Source: Trump nearing settlement in Trump University fraud cases

President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bragged he never settles lawsuits despite a long history of doing so, is nearing a deal to end the fraud cases pending against his defunct real estate seminar program, Trump University, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

If finalized, the settlement would eliminate the possibility that Trump would be called to testify in court in the midst of his presidential transition. A deal would end three suits against him, including a California class action case that was scheduled to go to trial later this month, as well as a second suit in that state and one brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Settlement terms under negotiation could result in a payment from Trump in the range of $20 million to former customers of the business who have claimed they were defrauded, the person said. Trump would likely admit no wrongdoing, however.

Neither representatives for Trump nor lawyers for plaintiffs in the two California suits immediately responded to a request for comment.

The potential Trump University settlement appears to fit a pattern in which lawyers for the president-elect are working to reduce the number of his legal entanglements before he takes office.

On Wednesday, Trump's lawyers dropped an unrelated lawsuit he was pursuing in Florida against Palm Beach County in which he had complained about commercial air traffic over his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump has fought the county for years over flight patterns from the county airport, which he has complained cause too much noise at his historic club. New air space restrictions likely to be imposed with Trump's election could mean that Trump will win the long fight without legal action.

Negotiations over the Trump University deal are being handled in part by lawyers for Schneiderman, a Democrat, who had filed suit against Trump University in 2013. Schneiderman has called the real estate program "a fraud from beginning to end."

"As Attorney General Schneiderman has long said, he has always been open to a settlement that fairly compensates the many victims of Trump University who have been waiting years for a resolution," said Eric Soufer, a spokesman for Schneiderman.

The fates of the New York case and the two California suits are closely linked because they were all brought on behalf of an overlapping pool of former Trump University customers, said the person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations.

Trump is known for aggressively pursuing his business interests in court. Still, he has settled lawsuits many times, despite arguing that doing so only invites further litigation.

"I don't settle cases. You know what happens? When you start settling lawsuits, everybody sues you," he said on MSNBC in March, responding to a question about Trump University. "I don't get sued because I don't settle cases. I win in court."

The Trump University case emerged as a political issue during the presidential campaign. And even as he rose in the polls, won primaries and emerged as the Republican nominee, Trump at times seemed deeply engrossed in the litigation and repeatedly defended the business from the stump.

At a rally in San Diego in May, Trump dissected the matter at length, insisting that most customers who had spent money on the real estate program had been pleased. He attacked particular plaintiffs by name, including one who later dropped out of the case, citing the publicity.

Trump's San Diego statements included an attack on Federal District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was overseeing the California cases, and a promise: "If we have a trial, we'll go all the way," he said then. "Watch how we win it."

In subsequent interviews in June, Trump continued to press complaints against Curiel, alleging that the Indiana-born judge was biased because of his Mexican heritage.

Those comments sparked an uproar that swallowed days of Trump's campaign and only subsided when his campaign released a lengthy statement in June claiming his comments had been "misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage."

The cases against Trump University were based on complaints from customers who described their experiences in programs that could cost more than $30,000.

The former customers said they were taken in by false promises including advertisements in which Trump promised seminar attendees would learn his personal tricks for succeeding in real estate from instructors he had personally handpicked. In depositions, Trump has acknowledged he did not pick seminar leaders.

Trump argued in a written statement that, "with all of the thousands of people who have given the courses such high marks and accolades, we will win this case!"

Curiel had strongly urged a settlement in the cases pending in his courtroom, where Trump's lawyers had recently asked for a delay, citing the burdens of the presidential transition. They suggested the trial, which is scheduled to open Nov. 28, would be easier in February or March, after Trump takes office.

Curiel was to hold a hearing on the request in San Diego later Friday.