How Many Charities Has the Trump Family Been Sued Over?
Reporting from New York —
The New York attorney general filed a lawsuit against President Trump on Th, charging that he misused his charitable foundation for personal and political gains over more than a decade.
In the scathing complaint filed in New York State Supreme Court, the attorney general used adjectives such as "illegal,'' "persistent" and "willful" to characterize the violations of the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
The president "used charitable avails to pay off the legal obligations of entities he controlled to promote Trump hotels, to purchase personal items and to support his presidential ballot campaign,'' the lawsuit charged.
The attorney general, Barbara D. Underwood, is seeking $2.8 million in restitution from the Trump Foundation and to bar Trump for ten years from serving equally a director, trustee or officeholder of a nonprofit. The suit says that $1 million in remaining funds should exist distributed to other charities.
Headquartered out of Trump Tower, the foundation was set upwards in 1987 every bit a nonprofit to raise money for charity. Trump himself has donated very little to the foundation since 2008, although he reimbursed some of the foundation's donations after the attorney general began investigating.
The 41-page lawsuit hinted at the possibility of criminal charges in the futurity.
"Mr. Trump's wrongful use of the Foundation to benefit his entrada was willful and knowing. Mr. Trump was aware of the prohibition on political activities and the requirement of restrictions on related party transactions. Among other things, he repeatedly signed, under penalties of perjury, IRS Forms 990 in which he attested that the Foundation did not engage in transactions with interested parties, and that the Foundation did not carry out political activity,'' the lawsuit stated.
The foundation violated those pledges, the conform alleges.
And although the money was indeed donated to charities, the donations were often made in gild to settle lawsuits, advance Trump's businesses or to generate publicity for Trump's presidential campaign.
Among the many examples cited in the lawsuit:
- Trump used $158,000 to settle a lawsuit against his Mar-a-Lago golf game society in Florida by an angry golfer who claimed he was owed money for hitting a hole-in-1 during a tournament. (Under the terms of the settlement, the money went to a foundation that had been ready by the golfer, Martin Greenberg.)
- The same device was used in 2007 to settle a dispute between Mar-a-Lago and the town of Palm Beach over building permits and flagpole heights. In the settlement, the Trump Foundation agreed to donate $100,000 to a charity of Palm Beach's choosing, which was an organization to help veterans.
- An additional $ten,000 went to purchase a 4-pes-alpine painting of Trump from a children's charity; information technology had been hung in the interior of a golf game club in Miami, but has since been returned to the foundation.
- The foundation donated $25,000 in 2013 to an organization seeking the reelection of Florida's Republican attorney general, Pam Bondi. At the fourth dimension, Bondi was because joining a lawsuit confronting Trump for allegedly defrauding students at his now-defunct Trump Academy. After the donation was made, she decided not to participate in the suit.
It was during the presidential campaign in 2016 that the Trump Foundation became an invaluable political tool, used to heave Trump's paradigm at campaign rallies, where he was portrayed every bit a benevolent philanthropist.
(Patrick Semansky / Associated Printing )
Over and over at rallies in Iowa in the run-up to the caucuses at that place, Trump carried onto the stage enlarged mock-ups of checks that his foundation had purportedly written to local charities. The checks even had Trump's campaign slogan ("Make America Dandy Again") written forth the lesser. Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, directed which charities would receive the money.
"When I enhance money for the veterans, and information technology's a massive corporeality of money, notice out how much money Hillary Clinton's given to the veterans,'' Trump boasted later on a 2016 Iowa fundraiser that had been organized past his campaign.
The lawsuit confronting the Donald J. Trump Foundation too named three of his adult children, Donald, Ivanka and Eric, every bit defendants, although their alleged offenses were of omission, non committee. All three served every bit lath members, although the lawsuit contends that the foundation hadn't held a board meeting since 1999.
"In the absence of a operation lath, Mr. Trump ran the Foundation according to his whim, rather than the law," the lawsuit states.
Many of the allegations were get-go reported by the Washington Post.
The lawsuit makes clear that Underwood, a quondam Yale police force school professor and career civil retainer, will comport through with the investigations begun by Eric Schneiderman, who resigned equally attorney full general final month amidst allegations that he was physically abusive to women.
Trump has complained that Schneiderman, who was on a "leadership council" of prominent New York Democrats during the Clinton campaign, was carrying out a political vendetta.
The president responded to the lawsuit Thursday with a series of tweets.
San Diego State University professor Seth Kaplowitz, who teaches police force in the university's business organization college, chosen the complaint "quite serious" and possibly a forerunner to criminal charges once Trump leaves office.
"It's basically fraud, and fraud with a charitable organization," said Kaplowitz.
"Any time you are charged with fraud and illegal activities, information technology is serious," he said. "This could mean jail time" for a person convicted criminally of the offenses.
He said a sitting president can't exist indicted, but Trump could confront criminal charges once he leaves offices.
"This basically accuses the president of using the foundation as a personal checkbook," Kaplowitz said.
The New York lawsuit opens a powerful new front end in the legal onslaught confronting the president as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III continues his investigation into the ties of Trump associates with Russia. Trump has hinted that he could use his presidential power to pardon associates of federal crimes, merely charges brought in New York state would non exist subject area to pardon power.
Tmes staff writer Maura Dolan in San Francisco contributed to this article.
UPDATES:
v:10 p.one thousand.: This article has been updated throughout with staff reporting.
x:55 a.one thousand.: This story has been updated to include a comment from a Trump company spokeswoman.
10:17 a.thou.: This article was updated to include tweets from President Trump.
This article was originally published at 9:thirty a.m.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pol-trump-charity-new-york-suit-20180614-story.html
0 Response to "How Many Charities Has the Trump Family Been Sued Over?"
Post a Comment