Trump Foundation to dissolve
President Donald Trump’s charitable foundation reached a deal yesterday to go out of business, even as Trump continues to fight allegations he misused its assets to resolve business disputes and boost his run for the White House.
New York’s attorney general and lawyers for the Trump Foundation agreed on a courtsupervised process for shutting down the charity and distributing about US$1.7 million (NZ$2.4m) in remaining funds to other nonprofit groups.
The agreement resolved one part of the legal drama surrounding Trump, whose campaign, transition, inauguration and real estate empire are all under investigation.
Attorney General Barbara Underwood’s lawsuit alleging Trump and his family illegally operated the foundation as an extension of his businesses and his presidential campaign will continue.
The lawsuit, filed last spring, seeks $2.8 million in restitution and a 10-year ban on Trump and his three eldest children – Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka – from running any charities in New York.
In a statement yesterday, Underwood cited ‘‘a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation – including unlawful co-ordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and wilful self-dealing, and much more’’.
The foundation operated as ‘‘little more than a chequebook to serve Mr Trump’s business and political interests’’, she said.
Lawyers for the foundation have said any infractions were minor.
Trump pledged to dissolve the three-decade-old foundation and donate its funds to charity after his 2016 election, but that was only after it found itself under investigation in New York state. The attorney general’s office said it would have been ‘‘unacceptable’’ to let the foundation fold without close supervision from a judge.
The agreement was reached after a New York judge last month rejected arguments from the foundation’s lawyers that the lawsuit was politically motivated and should be thrown out. Once the judge approves the deal to dissolve the charity, the two sides will have 30 days to provide her with a list of non-profit organisations that should get the remaining funds. The attorney general’s office will have the right to reject any it deems unfit to receive funds.
Among the allegations was that Trump used the foundation to help bolster his campaign by giving out big grants of other people’s money to veterans organisations during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nominating contest of 2016.
Trump was also accused of directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over a 24-metre flagpole he had built at his Mara-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, instead of paying the bill himself. –