Trump Should Pay $5.6 Million Penalty Over Charity, New York AG Says
Penalty on top of $2.8 million in restitution for spending money from his charitable foundation on business, political purposes.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump should pay a $5.6 million penalty on top of $2.8 million in restitution for spending money from his charitable foundation on business and political purposes, the New York attorney general told a judge in seeking a ruling without a trial.
Neither Trump nor his three eldest children, all of whom had senior roles at the Donald J. Trump Foundation, have provided evidence rebutting the state’s claims that they failed to meet as a board, oversee grant-making or implement policies to protect the charity’s funds from abuse, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in court papers Thursday.
"In this vacuum of oversight and diligence, Mr. Trump caused the foundation to enter repeatedly into self-dealing transactions and to coordinate unlawfully with his presidential campaign," James said, citing the charity’s internal emails, government filings and admissions made under oath.
A judge is weighing the state’s request to ban Trump from serving on a New York not-for-profit for 10 years and bar his children for one year. Trump, who claims the case is politically motivated, agreed to shutter the foundation under an agreement that gives James oversight of how the charity’s remaining funds will be disbursed.
The case is People of the State of New York v. Trump, 451130/2018, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York (Manhattan).
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Heather Smith at hsmith26@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider
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