Being a model today isn't easy, but it looks like things could be a lot worse if you are signed to Donald Trump's Model Management. Jamaican model Alexia Palmer, who was singed to the presidential candidate's agency, is suing the company for $225,000 for racketeering, breach of contract, mail fraud, and violating wage laws for immigrants. The lawsuit alleges that the Trump Model Management recruits foreign models like Palmer by saying they will make high wages, but don't deliver.
Palmer claims that the agency, which was founded by Trump in 1999, defrauded the government by promising her that she would make $75,000 a year to obtain an H-1B visa, which allows foreign workers to temporarily come to the United States. Instead the model took home only $4,985 over three years after the agency took out commission and made her pay for a $75 walking lesson and a $200 dermatology appointment. Palmer told ABC that she felt like a slave working for the agency.
Trump’s lawyers have called the case "frivolous" and "without merit" saying, “At the end of the day, this model just didn’t have a successful career, and we fully expect to win," according to Reuters.
But Palmer's lawyer, Naresh Gehi, says his client was cheated. "The visa application the company filed with the government requires that people are paid the full amount. It’s a requirement.”
The lawsuit is currently waiting for approval to be turned into a class-action suit, which would allow more models to come forward. Unfortunately for the Presidential hopeful, this isn't the first lawsuit one of his companies has been hit with. Trump University was served with a $40 million dollar suit for fraud in 2013.
