UPDATE: New York files suit against Trump, alleging his charity engaged in 'illegal conduct'
Source: Washington Post
The New York attorney general on Thursday filed suit against President Trump and his three eldest children alleging "persistently illegal conduct" at the president's personal charity, saying Trump repeatedly misused the nonprofit -- to pay off his businesses' creditors, to decorate one of his golf clubs and to stage a multimillion dollar giveaway at his 2016 campaign events.
In the suit, filed Thursday morning, attorney general Barbara Underwood asked a state judge to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation. She asked that its remaining $1 million in assets be distributed to other charities and that Trump be forced to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and penalties.
Underwood also asks that Trump be banned from leading any other New York nonprofit for 10 years -- seeking to apply a penalty usually reserved for the operators of small-time charity frauds to the president of the United States.
In the suit, Underwood noted that Trump had already paid more than $330,000 in reimbursements and penalty taxes since 2016. New York state began probing the Trump Foundation in response to an investigation by The Washington Post.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/new-york-files-suit-against-president-trump-alleging-his-charity-engaged-in-illegal-conduct/2018/06/14/c3cbf71e-6fc9-11e8-bd50-b80389a4e569_story.html
Original story -
The lawsuit, filed by state Attorney General Barbara Underwood, comes after an investigation spurred by The Washington Post's reporting.
The suit accuses President Trump and his three eldest children of repeatedly misusing his nonprofit, including to pay off his businesses' creditors, decorate one of his golf clubs and stage a multimillion-dollar giveaway at his 2016 campaign events.
Underwood asked a state judge to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation, to distribute its remaining $1 million in assets to other charities, and to force Trump to pay at least $2.8 million in restitution and damages. She also asked that the president be banned from leading any other New York nonprofit for 10 years.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/06/14/new-york-files-suit-against-trump-alleging-his-charity-engaged-in-illegal-conduct/?utm_term.08c5b49153c1
Edit to add NYT article -
By Danny Hakim
June 14, 2018
The New York State attorney general'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, self-dealing and illegal coordination with the presidential campaign.
The lawsuit, which seeks to dissolve the foundation and bar President Trump and three of his children from serving on nonprofit organizations, was an unprecedented rebuke of a sitting president. The attorney general also sent referral letters to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission for possible further action, adding to Mr. Trump's extensive legal problems.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, culminated a nearly two-year investigation of Mr. 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 complaint asserts that Mr. Trump's was often used to curry political favor or settle legal claims against his various businesses, and even spent $10,000 on a portrait of Mr. Trump that was hung at one of his golf clubs.
The $10,000 portrait was one of several examples of the foundation being used in "at least five self-dealing transactions," according to the attorney general's office, violating tax regulations that prohibit using nonprofit charities for private interests.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/14/nyregion/trump-foundation-lawsuit-attorney-general.html
bucolic_frolic
(43,511 posts)Tee'd off that is!
brooklynite
(95,007 posts)NEW YORK - Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood today announced a lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and its directors, Donald J. Trump (Mr. Trump), Donald J. Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. The petition filed today alleges a pattern of persistent illegal conduct, occurring over more than a decade, that includes extensive unlawful political coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing transactions to benefit Mr. Trumps personal and business interests, and violations of basic legal obligations for non-profit foundations. The Attorney General initiated a special proceeding to dissolve the Trump Foundation under court supervision and obtain restitution of $2.8 million and additional penalties. The AGs lawsuit also seeks a ban from future service as a director of a New York not-for-profit of 10 years for Mr. Trump and one year for each of the Foundations other board members, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. The Attorney General also sent referral letters today to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission, identifying possible violations of federal law for further investigation and legal action by those federal agencies.
As alleged in the petition, Mr. Trump used the Trump Foundations charitable assets to pay off his legal obligations, to promote Trump hotels and other businesses, and to purchase personal items. In addition, at Mr. Trumps behest, the Trump Foundation illegally provided extensive support to his 2016 presidential campaign by using the Trump Foundations name and funds it raised from the public to promote his campaign for presidency, including in the days before the Iowa nominating caucuses.
As our investigation reveals, the Trump Foundation was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality, said Attorney General Underwood. This is not how private foundations should function and my office intends to hold the Foundation and its directors accountable for its misuse of charitable assets.
The Attorney Generals investigation found that Trump Foundation raised in excess of $2.8 million in a manner designed to influence the 2016 presidential election at the direction and under the control of senior leadership of the Trump presidential campaign. The Foundation raised the funds from the public at the nationally televised fundraiser Mr. Trump held in lieu of participating in the presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 28, 2016. In violation of state and federal law, senior Trump campaign staff, including Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski, dictated the timing, amounts, and recipients of grants by the Foundation to non-profits, as evidenced by communications between Campaign staff and Foundation representatives:
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Hillary is the crooked one, RIGHT?? The tRump family hit the big time when he was installed into the WH by Putin. Easiest money making gig EVER.
PunkinPi
(4,882 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)PunkinPi
(4,882 posts)since I wasn't 100% sure. Glad to have DU's resident attorney on it.
fleur-de-lisa
(14,629 posts)greatauntoftriplets
(175,776 posts)What a nice birthday present for Spanky.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Happy birthday indeed!
mobeau69
(11,169 posts)DesertRat
(27,995 posts)Mc Mike
(9,118 posts)world wide wally
(21,762 posts)PearliePoo2
(7,768 posts)I hope you can hear her laughing all the way from Chappaqua!
Oh, and fuck you and your slimey kids too!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Oops.
This looks like trouble.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,756 posts)Emails show @realdonaldtrumps campaign dictated who the charity donated to, and how much, despite ban on political activity by nonprofits.
Link to tweet
The suit specifically discusses the veterans fundraiser Trump held to skip out of a Fox News debate and cites emails written by Corey Lewandowski.
Link to tweet
BumRushDaShow
(130,043 posts)I believe he has been interviewed by Mueller but he has oddly disappeared of late.
Initech
(100,149 posts)I swear it's their playbook - projection!
forgotmylogin
(7,540 posts)They were just "innocently following" by example.
hahahahahahahaAhaahahahAAAHAAHAHAHA
KPN
(15,679 posts)institutions hold up to a Trump cartel strengthened and emboldened by the full support and force of a deeply corrupted GOP of Trump.
While this appears to be good news, in reality only time will tell. It depends on how wide and deep the corruption ultimately runs.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Duppers
(28,134 posts)The only way we're going to get rid of the lying asshole is to vote him out office. But how would that happen with the Russians rigging the voting machines?
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,501 posts)ramped-up, rabid Repug attacks on the Clinton Foundation and all the while making dozens of lame excuses for Herr tRump and his mob family scam.
And, very soon thereafter they will go after the Obama Foundation with vengeance.
They just can't seem to help themselves without a big daily dose of whataboutism, projection and deception.
....... ..........
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,756 posts)BREAKING: Trump says he won't settle `ridiculous' lawsuit alleging Trump Foundation engaged in pattern of illegal self-dealing.
8:21 AM - 14 Jun 2018
Link to tweet
MrsCoffee
(5,803 posts)FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)It's always been a scam since Day One. It has been used by the Trump family for political gain, financial skirting of the law and avoiding taxes. New York State, please lock this family up.
Cheeto doesn't want to settle the case - fine by us!
yallerdawg
(16,104 posts)A Democratic senator might think this alone qualifies as 'high crimes and misdemeanors!'
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,756 posts)We are suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors @realDonaldTrump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump for extensive and persistent violations of state and federal law. https://on.ny.gov/2JGcVag
Link to tweet
Our investigation found that the Trump Foundation raised in excess of $2.8 million in a manner designed to influence the 2016 presidential election at the direction and under the control of senior leadership of the Trump presidential campaign.
Link to tweet
You can read our petition here: https://on.ny.gov/2lbdv0V
Link to tweet
turbinetree
(24,745 posts)I want to see how he applied this on his tax returns..............................when he was defrauding the stated purpose of the charity and was using the money for something else............like manicuring his golf greens....................fraud is still fraud................the traitor and his family have no clothes................humpty dumpty...................comes to mind.....................
happy birthday traitor.................did you choke on your cake when this came down..............a sane person would..............but probably not you................what a
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,756 posts)In this video, @Fahrenthold explains how President Trump directed people who owed him money to make their payments to the tax-exempt Trump Foundation instead.
They're now being sued by the New York AG.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/how-donald-trump-directed-millions-to-his-foundation/2016/09/26/92c40ace-843b-11e6-b57d-dd49277af02f_video.html
Link to tweet
Mira
(22,382 posts)Happy Birthday to you!
kimbutgar
(21,285 posts)angrychair
(8,758 posts)So they are accused of illegally routing and misuse of millions of dollars for personal gain and to support his political campaign and the worst that happens is he cant have a charity in NY for 10 years?!?!?
Meanwhile if steal a candy bar or jaywalk Im going to jail if I dont get shot dead or billy clubbed half to death.
Wealthy and white does have its privileges.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)And something he accused Hillary and Bill of doing. Once again something he accused others of doing that he was doing all along. Was he wiretapping President Obama ?
ailsagirl
(22,909 posts)Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)Vinca
(50,334 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,756 posts)The smallest gift the Trump Foundation dispersed was $7 to the Boy Scouts in 1989, when the registration fee was $7 and Don. Jr. was 11. The largest gift of $264,631 covered a fountain renovation outside Trump's Plaza Hotel that enhanced the view.
Link to tweet
{later in the thread:}
Cripes. He was too cheap to even pay his son's boy scout registration - used the charity for that!
Link to tweet