NEW YORK - US President Donald Trump’s charity foundation has agreed to close down amid allegations that he and others illegally misused the funds, according to a document filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court by the New York state Attorney General’s office.
Rather than operating it as a genuine charity, the lawsuit alleges, they instead allowed it to be used “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr Trump’s business and political interests.”
Barbara Underwood, the state attorney general, who announced the move, will supervise the distribution of the New York-based foundation’s remaining monies.
She has accused Trump and his three eldest children of using it for private and political gain.
The foundation’s lawyer, in turn, accused her of attempting to politicize the matter.
The foundation’s most recent tax return listed its net assets at slightly more than $1.7 million.
This is just one of several legal cases currently swirling around President Trump and his family. Others include a wide-ranging special counsel investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia headed by former FBI chief Robert Mueller.
Barbara Underwood said the case against Trump and his children Donald Junior, Ivanka and Eric would continue.
In a statement, she said there had been “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation - including unlawful co-ordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and wilful self-dealing, and much more”.
Under the terms of the deal to shut down the foundation, Underwood said, it could only be dissolved under judicial supervision and could only distribute its assets “to reputable organizations approved by my office”.
She added: “This is an important victory for the rule of law, making clear that there is one set of rules for everyone.
We’ll continue to move our suit forward to ensure that the Trump Foundation and its directors are held to account for their clear and repeated violations of state and federal law.”