Nearly two dozen pages of a textbook used for real estate classes tied to Donald Trump contain plagiarized text, according to a new report.
The New York Times reports 20 pages of a 2006 book made for the Trump Institute have word-for-word copies of text from a real estate book published in 1995.
Trump did not have any ownership stake in the seminars; he apparently struck a deal with a couple who put them on throughout the country, allowing them to use his brand to promote the product.
That couple, Irene and Mike Milin, had a history of lawsuits and other legal troubles related to their business that offered to help people make money fast.
The plagiarized parts were taken from a real estate book called "Real Estate Mastery System," published by Success Magazine.
The Times spoke with Susan G. Parker, the editor of the Trump Institute textbook, who pointed blame at a lawyer who represented the Milins at the time. Parker said she was given background materials and wrote the book without ever speaking to Trump.
Parker later attended one of the seminars and was not impressed.
"It was like I was in sleaze America," Parker told the Times. "It was all smoke and mirrors."
Trump University, another teaching business tied to Trump, has also come under fire for allegedly committing fraud by failing to deliver on promises to its students.
Trump criticized the judge in that case, saying his Mexican heritage makes him biased because of Trump's promise to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.