This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/nyregion/trump-charities-new-york.html

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Trump Ordered to Pay $2 Million to Charities Trump Ordered to Pay $2 Million to Charities
(about 2 hours later)
A state judge ordered President Trump to pay $2 million in damages to a collection of nonprofit groups on Wednesday as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that accused his charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, of financial mismanagement. A state judge ordered President Trump to pay $2 million in damages to a collection of nonprofit groups on Wednesday as part of a settlement of a lawsuit that accused the Donald J. Trump Foundation of financial mismanagement.
Once billed as the charitable arm of the president’s financial empire, the Trump Foundation closed its doors in December, six months after the New York attorney general’s office sued it for acting “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.” The suit said the foundation engaged in “a shocking pattern of illegality” that included improperly coordinating with Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The settlement, finalized last month and announced on Wednesday in the judge’s order, brought an end to a protracted legal battle over the foundation, whose giving patterns and management became a flash point during Mr. Trump’s run for office. The settlement included a detailed admission of misconduct: rare for the president, who has long employed a scorched-earth stance toward fighting lawsuits.
In the ruling on Wednesday, Justice Saliann Scarpulla found that Mr. Trump had “breached his fiduciary duty” by using the foundation to further his political career. Among those admissions was Mr. Trump’s acknowledgment that a fund-raiser for veterans that the foundation held in Iowa in January 2016, only days before the state’s presidential nominating caucuses, was in fact a campaign event, and that the charity gave his campaign complete control over disbursing the $2.8 million it raised.
The attorney general’s office had asked Justice Scarpulla to ban Mr. Trump from ever running a charity again. Though she did not impose the ban, she did place numerous restrictions on Mr. Trump should he seek to open another charitable organization. The president also admitted to using the foundation to settle the legal obligations of companies he owned, including Mar-A-Lago, his private club in Florida, and the Trump National Golf Club in New York.
Once billed as the charitable arm of the president’s financial empire, the Trump Foundation closed its doors in December, six months after the New York attorney general’s office sued, saying the foundation was acting “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.”
The suit accused the foundation of engaging in “a shocking pattern of illegality” that included improperly coordinating with Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
In her ruling on Wednesday, Justice Saliann Scarpulla of State Supreme Court in Manhattan found that Mr. Trump had in fact “breached his fiduciary duty” by using the foundation to further his business and political career.
The attorney general’s office had asked Justice Scarpulla to ban Mr. Trump from ever running a charity again. Though she did not impose such a ban, she did place numerous restrictions on Mr. Trump should he seek to establish another charitable organization.
Charities are barred by law from advancing the self-interests of their executives, but the attorney general’s office charged in its suit that the Trump Foundation had engaged in several instances of questionable spending and self-dealing. The foundation, for instance, purchased a $10,000 portrait of Mr. Trump that was ultimately displayed at one of his Florida hotels. (Mr. Trump admitted to that as well.)
The settlement was worked out between the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, and Mr. Trump’s lawyers on Oct. 1.
Under the terms, Mr. Trump’s lawyers agreed to give the Trump Foundation’s remaining assets of $1.7 million to a group of charities that have no connection to the president or his family, including the Children’s Aid Society, the United Negro College Fund and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The damages Justice Scarpulla awarded, which were akin to a fine, were ordered to be paid to those same groups.
Both sides agreed that three of Mr. Trump’s children who were officers of the foundation — Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump — will undergo training in order to ensure they never again engage in similar improprieties.
Mr. Trump agreed that any charity he becomes involved with in the future will have a majority of independent directors, lawyers with expertise in nonprofit law and an accounting firm to monitor its grants and expenses.
Ms. James hailed the court’s decision and the resolution of the lawsuit as “a major victory” for “those who would abuse charities for personal gain.” She added: “No one is above the law — not a businessman, not a candidate for office, and not even the president of the United States.”
In a statement, the Trump Foundation characterized the damages awarded by Justice Scarpulla as a “contribution,” adding that it was “pleased to donate an additional $2 million” to “worthy organizations.”