Fact check: Which accusations against Donald Trump resulted in lawsuits or settlements, and what were the legal outcomes (years and court names)?

1. The Trump University fraud flap that ended in a multimillion-dollar settlement — what happened and where it landed

Allegations that Trump University engaged in deceptive marketing and fraudulent business practices resulted in consolidated civil litigation that culminated in a $25 million settlement resolving claims that students were misled about the program’s instructors and guarantees; this settlement resolved state and class-action suits and is repeatedly cited as a major civil judgment against Trump’s enterprises ^{[1] [4]}. The settlement addressed consumer-fraud claims brought in state courts and coordinated proceedings rather than a single federal trial, and it represented a costly civil resolution intended to compensate purchasers rather than a criminal conviction, establishing a civil-law accountability endpoint for alleged deceptive conduct tied to his private enterprise ^{[1] [4]}.

2. Hush-money payments and the New York criminal case — indictment, conviction, and courtroom outcome

Accusations concerning hush-money payments to silence a purported affair triggered criminal charges in New York that led to a criminal conviction on multiple counts of falsifying business records, with reporting indicating convictions and sentencing outcomes in state criminal court; the New York case became one of the highest-profile criminal adjudications against Trump and moved through trial and sentencing phases reported in 2024–2025 timelines ^{[1] [2]}. News coverage and legal trackers emphasize that the New York proceedings were state-level felony prosecutions in a Manhattan court, and subsequent reporting through 2025 documents conviction-related rulings and sentencing, while appeals and collateral litigation continued to follow these decisions ^{[1] [5]}.

3. Election-interference accusations and the Georgia inquiry — criminal probe versus litigation status

Accusations that Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election produced both a federal inquiry and a Georgia criminal investigation focused on efforts to disrupt state results; the latter produced an investigative docket in Fulton County and resulted in indictment activity and prosecutions alleging interference and solicitation of election officials, while the federal electoral-interference inquiry spawned separate criminal charges in other courts, creating parallel state and federal legal tracks ^{[1] [2]}. Reporting through 2025 shows Fulton County proceedings and the D.C. and southern district federal indictments moved into pretrial and trial stages, with many issues still subject to litigation and appeals, reflecting a fragmented legal landscape where accusations translated into multiple, concurrent prosecutions rather than a single consolidated courtroom resolution ^{[2] [5]}.

4. Classified documents and federal charges — retention, special counsel scrutiny, and court venues

Allegations that Trump retained classified documents after leaving office prompted a federal criminal case brought in the Southern District of Florida and special counsel investigations, producing indictments for unlawful retention and obstruction and leading to federal trial activity and pretrial challenges; these matters were litigated in federal courts and have generated repeated filings, motions, and appeals concerning search warrants, privilege claims, and evidentiary disputes ^{[2] [5]}. Coverage through mid-2025 details that the federal matters involved the Department of Justice and special counsel oversight with cases assigned to federal district courts, underscoring how allegations about national-security materials were elevated to federal criminal adjudication rather than civil settlement, with evolving procedural outcomes documented in trial reporting ^[2].

5. Housing-discrimination and long-running civil suits tied to Trump Organization practices

Civil accusations under the Fair Housing Act alleged that the Trump Organization engaged in racially discriminatory rental practices, leading to long-running litigation such as United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald J. Trump & Trump Management, Inc., filed in federal court; these cases addressed systemic practices and produced judicial findings and settlements over decades, representing a separate thread of civil liability rooted in alleged housing discrimination and regulatory enforcement rather than short-form consumer suits ^{[3] [7]}. Reporting and litigation trackers show that these civil-rights suits were litigated in federal courts with remedies focused on injunctive relief and oversight, illustrating how regulatory and civil-enforcement mechanisms produced different legal outcomes from consumer or criminal cases and remained part of Trump’s extensive legal portfolio through 2025 ^{[3] [6]}.

6. Big picture: overlapping litigation streams, appeals, and what remains unsettled

Across these accusations—fraudulent business practices, hush-money schematics, election interference, classified-document retention, and housing discrimination—the legal outcomes vary: some resolved by settlement (Trump University), others by criminal conviction (New York hush-money case), and many remain active or on appeal in federal and state courts through 2025, producing a complex patchwork of venues including state supreme courts, Manhattan criminal court, Fulton County courts, and federal district courts in the Southern District of Florida and D.C. ^{[1] [2] [6]}. Diverse media and legal trackers emphasize ongoing appeals and procedural contests, meaning the final legal architecture will continue to evolve as higher courts consider convictions, the scope of remedies in civil suits, and the interplay between state and federal prosecutions ^{[5] [6]}.