The office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has ordered Donald Trump’s charity to stop its fundraising immediately after a report surfaced that the foundation was not properly registered to seek public donations.
The Donald J. Trump Foundation received a notice of violation on Friday, the day after The Washington Post reported that Trump’s charity had been soliciting outside donations without the necessary authorizations in New York.
“The Attorney General’s office is the sole regulator of charities in New York State, and when evidence of clear misconduct is brought to our attention, we take action,” a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
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After he canceled a primary debate appearance in January, Trump created a website directing to the Trump Foundation donations that he said would go to veterans. He collected $1.67 million through the site.
The Trump Foundation never registered under a New York law that requires any charity soliciting more than $25,000 a year from the public, avoiding outside audits. Schneiderman said if Trump did not stop fundraising and file the proper paperwork, it would be “a continuing fraud upon the people of New York.”
The Trump Foundation must supply the state with all the paperwork required of charities that ask for money from the public within 15 days, as well as all the financial audit reports it did not provide in prior years when it raised money illegally.
Trump’s charity has faced scrutiny in recent months, and he was fined earlier this year for donating $25,000 from the charity to a group connected with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s re-election campaign in 2013. Bondi did not open an investigation into Trump University, which faced fraud allegations. Trump and Bondi denied the contribution affected that decision. The donation was a violation of rules surrounding political activity by charities.
The Washington Post also reported last month that Trump used $258,000 from his charity to settle lawsuits. Nonprofit leaders are not permitted to spend the funds they raise on themselves or their businesses.
Trump gave his last personal donation to the foundation in 2008, and it has existed on outside contributions since then.
Trump’s campaign dismissed Schneiderman as a “partisan hack,” and in a statement Monday campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the campaign was “concerned about the political motives behind AG Schneiderman’s investigation,” but that the Trump Foundation would fully cooperate with the investigation.
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Donald Trump’s Foundation Ordered to Halt Fundraising originally appeared on usnews.com
