NY attorney-general sues Trump charity
Accusations arise of ‘sweeping violations’
NEW YORK: The New York state attorneygeneral’s office filed a scathingly worded lawsuit on Thursday taking aim at the Donald J Trump Foundation, accusing the charity and the Trump family of sweeping violations of campaign finance laws, selfdealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.
The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Donald Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organisations, was an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney-general also sent referral letters to the Federal Election Commission for possible further action.
The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated in a nearly two-year investigation of Trump’s charity, which became a subject of scrutiny during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. While such foundations are supposed to be devoted to charitable activities, the petition asserts that Mr Trump’s was often improperly used to settle legal claims against his various businesses, even spending $10,000 on a portrait of Mr Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs.
The foundation was also used to curry political favour, the lawsuit asserts. During the 2016 race, the foundation became a virtual arm of Mr Trump’s campaign, email traffic showed, with his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski directing its expenditures, even though such foundations are explicitly prohibited from political activities.
The attorney-general’s office is seeking the Trump Foundation to pay US$2.8 million (90 million baht) in restitution, the amount raised for the foundation at a 2016 Iowa political fundraiser. At the time, Mr Trump skipped a Republican debate and set up his own event to raise money for veterans, though he used the event to skewer his opponents and celebrate his own accomplishments.