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   From: corrupt@trumpite.ru   
      
   The Trump Foundation was one big scam, according to the New York attorney   
   general.   
      
   I have some shocking news: An organization with “Trump” in its name has   
   run into trouble with the law. Who could have imagined?   
      
   On Thursday, the New York attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit   
   targeting the Trump Foundation. The Post’s David A. Fahrenthold reports:   
      
       The New York attorney general filed suit against President Trump and   
   his three eldest children Thursday, alleging “persistently illegal   
   conduct” at the president’s personal charity, saying Trump repeatedly   
   misused the nonprofit organization — to pay off his businesses’ creditors,   
   to decorate one of his golf clubs and to stage a multimillion-dollar   
   giveaway at his 2016 campaign events.   
      
       In the suit, filed Thursday morning, Attorney General Barbara   
   Underwood asked a state judge to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation.   
   She asked that its remaining $1 million in assets be distributed to other   
   charities and that Trump be forced to pay at least $2.8 million in   
   restitution and penalties.   
      
       Underwood said that oversight of spending at Trump’s foundation was so   
   loose that its board of directors hadn’t met in 19 years, and its official   
   treasurer wasn’t even aware that he was on the board.   
      
       Instead, she said, the foundation came to serve the spending needs of   
   Trump — and then, in 2016, the needs of his presidential campaign. She   
   cited emails from Trump campaign staff members, directing which charities   
   should receive gifts from the Trump Foundation, and in what amounts.   
      
   Fahrenthold and other reporters have previously uncovered some of the   
   facts that figure in the lawsuit, but there’s damning new information,   
   too, related specifically to an event to raise money for veterans that   
   Trump held before the Iowa caucuses. According to the suit, the foundation   
   brought in $2.8 million at that event, then essentially turned it over to   
   the campaign to decide how it should be disbursed. They have emails from   
   Corey Lewandowski, then Trump’s campaign manager, directing where the   
   money should be be donated. The suit charges that this amounted to an   
   illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign.   
      
   There are two levels of context one needs to understand this lawsuit. The   
   first level is that much of what we’ve learned about the Trump Foundation   
   suggests that it was basically a scam, a way for Trump to make shady   
   contributions, pay his debts with other people’s money and do things such   
   as buy a gigantic painting of himself.   
      
   For instance, Trump had to pay a fine when it was discovered that the   
   foundation made an illegal $25,000 contribution to a political group   
   connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who just happened to be   
   deciding at the time whether to pursue a fraud investigation into Trump   
   University, which she most agreeably decided not to do. Not only was the   
   contribution itself illegal — charitable foundations aren’t allowed to   
   donate to political groups — it was hidden when the foundation reported on   
   its tax forms that the contribution had instead gone to a legitimate   
   nonprofit in Kansas with a similar name, to which they had actually given   
   no money. In other cases, the foundation was used to pay legal settlements   
   for Trump himself.   
      
   The second level of context is that, in all this, the Trump Foundation   
   isn’t much different from everything else Trump did during his business   
   career. The only reason nobody knew what the Trump Foundation really was   
   before Trump ran for president was that no one had bothered to look. Once   
   they did, it immediately became apparent that, while it might do something   
   legitimate here or there, at its core, the foundation looks a lot like a   
   grift.   
      
   You might say the same about Trump’s entire business career. As I’ve   
   argued before, Trump wasn’t just a guy who skated close to the line a time   
   or two or broke a few rules. In fact, when you add up the questionable   
   bankruptcies; the cons such as Trump University; the pyramid schemes; the   
   contacts with mobsters; the exploitation of foreign workers; the Trump   
   projects that have collapsed amid charges of double-dealing; the unusual   
   interest Russian oligarchs have in using Trump properties as a vehicle for   
   money laundering, and more, Donald Trump could well be the most corrupt   
   major business figure in America. So why would anyone expect his   
   foundation to be an above-board charity that does good work and would   
   never run afoul of the law?   
      
   If I had to predict, at this point, I would guess that President Trump and   
   his kids will try to settle this suit by paying a small fine. Though he   
   claims “I won’t settle this case!” that’s what he said about the Trump   
   University fraud lawsuit too, and he ended up paying a $25 million   
   settlement to his victims. So while the Trump Foundation may not send the   
   president to the slammer, this lawsuit will likely end up telling us a lot   
   about who he is and how he operates.   
      
      
   https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/06/14/the-trump-   
   foundation-was-one-big-scam-according-to-the-new-york-attorney-general-   
   what-a-shock/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a8ddb3401813   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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