Trump Foundation Sued By New York For 'Persistent' Violations

NEW YORK, NY — New York State's attorney general accused the Trump Foundation of "persistent" illegal activity in a lawsuit filed Thursday that seeks to dissolve President Donald Trump's charity. The wide-ranging petition by Attorney General Barbara Underwood says the Republican president ran the charity "according to his whim, rather than the law."

"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," Underwood said in a statement.

The suit in Manhattan Supreme Court asks for $2.8 million in restitution and a temporary ban on Trump and his children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr. — who are also named as defendants — from serving as a director of any New York charity.

Trump pledged not to settle the lawsuit in a pair of tweets just half an hour after it was announced. He attacked former attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who started probing the foundation before he resigned last month amid allegations that he abused four women.

"Schneiderman, who ran the Clinton campaign in New York, never had the guts to bring this ridiculous case, which lingered in their office for almost 2 years," Trump wrote. "Now he resigned his office in disgrace, and his disciples brought it when we would not settle."

The lawsuit accuses the Trump children of shirking their duties on the foundation's board of directors, which existed "in name only."

Instead, the president's business, the Trump Organization, administered the charity without any oversight, allowing Trump to use the foundation to benefit himself, his businesses and his 2016 presidential campaign, the suit says.

The petition cites a February 2016 Trump campaign event in Iowa billed as a fundraiser for veterans groups. The foundation raised more than $2.8 million in donations at the event, but let the campaign control which groups received the money, the suit says. Trump used the gifts for political purposes, handing out large checks to representatives of veterans groups at campaign events.

In 2013, the suit says, the foundation gave $25,000 to a Florida political group supporting Pam Bondi for re-election as that state's attorney general, then falsely said the donation went to a Kansas-based nonprofit. Trump reimbursed the foundation for the donation and paid a tax on it after it became public in 2016, according to the suit.

Foundation money was also used in several self-dealing transactions that benefitted Trump and his businesses, the suit says.

The charity paid more than $250,000 to settle two lawsuits against Trump's Mar-A-Lago resort and one of his golf clubs; paid $10,000 for a portrait of Trump that was hung at another of his golf clubs; paid $5,000 to promote Trump's hotels; and paid a land trust $32,000 to maintain a Trump family property in Westchester County, according to the petition.

The lawsuit comes two years after the attorney general's office started investigating the Trump Foundation in June 2016 under Eric Schneiderman, who resigned last month amid allegations that he abused four women.

Like Trump, the foundation attacked the suit as politically motivated. A spokesperson said it has donated more than $19 million to charitable causes and had already announced plans to dissolve more than a year and a half ago.

Underwood's "recent statement that battling the White House is 'the most important work [she] have ever done' shows that such political attacks will continue unabated," the spokesperson said, according to a copy of a statement posted to Twitter.

Trump did settle a separate lawsuit Schneiderman brought against Trump University for $25 million after the attorney general sued him for swindling students.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the legal document Attorney General Barbara Underwood filed. It is a petition, not a complaint.

(Lead image: President Donald Trump presents a Trump Foundation check during the 2016 presidential campaign. Photo: AP/Filed in lawsuit)