Trump Foundation To Shut Down Under Supervision Of New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood

The New York attorney general’s office announced on Tuesday that President Donald Trump‘s embattled personal charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation, will shut down and give away all its remaining money amid a lawsuit that accused it of using funds illegally for personal and political gain.

Barbara Underwood, New York’s attorney general, pointed to “a shocking pattern of illegality” from the part of the charity, which illicitly coordinated spending with Trump’s 2016 campaign for president. According to several reports, Underwood’s office is seeking a lawsuit against the foundation, Trump and his three eldest children.  

The suit was initially filed in June and claimed “persistent illegal conduct” at the charity. Underwood’s office is now  seeking more than $2.8 million in restitution and has requested a judge to temporarily prohibit the Trump family from serving on the boards of other nonprofit organizations in New York. In 2017, the charity reported $1.7 million in assets to the Internal Revenue Service.

“This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests,” Underwood said in a statement.

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In June, Trump angrily tweeted that he refused to settle the lawsuit over his foundation with the “sleazy New York Democrats” from the attorney general’s office, which just before then had been led by Eric Schneiderman. In May, Schneiderman resigned following allegations of physical abuse brought against him by multiple women.

Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski also reportedly ordered the foundation to allocate funds for Trump’s campaign in Iowa in 2016 just days before the caucuses began in the state to kick off the election cycle.

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Trump is currently facing over a dozen investigations into his presidency, his campaign, his inauguration and its corresponding committee, and other matters. Special counsel Robert Mueller continues to probe the president and his associates, including his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump and eldest son Donald Trump Jr.