Report: Trump's charitable foundation admits violating IRS ban on "self-dealing"
President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation appears to have admitted in 2015 tax filings that it had violated a law that bans nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their family, according to The Washington Post.
The law bans what’s called“self-dealing” and the Trump Foundation indicated in tax filings to the IRS that it had transferred “income or assets to a disqualified person,” and Trump could be that person, according to the report.
By violating the ban, Trump’s foundation could face penalties, which the report said could include excise taxes or a requirement that charity leaders repay money that the charity used.
The tax forms, however, didn’t detail specific acts of self-dealing and didn’t say whether he already paid penalties. The forms the Post referred to were posted online by GuideStar, a nonprofit-tracking site. The Post said it couldn’t immediately confirm that the same forms were submitted to the IRS.
During the presidential campaign, the Post found that Trump had used his foundation to settle lawsuits that involved his businesses, spending more than $250,000 from the foundation over the last decade. It also reported that Trump might have violated IRS rules by spending his nonprofit’s money to buy a $20,000 portrait of himself and a $12,000 autographed football helmet.
The office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating these activities. His office said in October that the foundation had to stop all fundraising in New York because it wasn’t properly registered with the state.
According to the Post’s report Tuesday, it’s unclear if the self-dealing indicated in the tax forms is related to these previously reported revelations.
