Fahrenthold of WaPo: Trump Illegally Used $258k of Foundation Money to Settle Legal Problems.

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Tuesday September 20, 2016 · 7:41 AM PDT

2016/09/20 · 07:41

Screen_Shot_2016-09-20_at_11.10.35_AM.png — Slim Shady has spent $30,000 that was set aside for charity to buy artistic renderings of his own face. The portrait above cost ten grand. This fraudulent act is just one of many involving the Trump Foundation.

David Fahrenthold has dug even dipper into the Trump Foundation scandal finding that the Trump illegally used $258,000 in Foundation money to settle legal disputes.

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NEW: @realdonaldtrump used more $250K+ from his charity to pay off legal settlements of his for-profit businesses. https://t.co/Fa1RooYWMT
Ã¢ÂÂ David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) September 20, 2016

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Donald Trump spent more than a quarter-million dollars from his charitable foundation to settle lawsuits that involved the billionaire’s for-profit businesses, according to interviews and a review of legal documents.

Those cases, which together used $258,000 from Trump’s charity, were among four newly documented expenditures in which Trump may have violated laws against “self-dealing” — which prohibit nonprofit leaders from using charity money to benefit themselves or their businesses.

In one case, from 2007, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club faced $120,000 in unpaid fines from the town of Palm Beach, Fla., resulting from a dispute over the size of a flagpole.

In a settlement, Palm Beach agreed to waive those fines — if Trump’s club made a $100,000 donation to a specific charity for veterans. Instead, Trump sent a check from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a charity funded almost entirely by other people’s money, according to tax records.

Fahrenthold provides a number of examples in the full article which demonstrates an undeniable commingling of funds and improper use of foundation monies. As noted in the article, one tax expert said, “I represent 700 nonprofits a year & I've never encountered anything so brazen.”

The evidence makes it clear: Trump would be the most conflicted and corrupt President in U.S. history.

@raycutlerfish @realDonaldTrump @washingtonpost @Fahrenthold Pulitzer for investigative reporting is my hope.
Ã¢ÂÂ Alexandra Rosas (@GDRPempress) September 20, 2016

Tuesday, Sep 20, 2016 · 3:23:22 PM +00:00 · igualdad

For some background:

HOW THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION'S FOREIGN BUSINESS TIES COULD UPEND U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY BY KURT EICHENWALD

Related Articles by David Fahrenthold

9-14-16: New York Attorney General investigating Trump's foundation

H/T: T Maysle

Tuesday, Sep 20, 2016 · 10:13:54 PM +00:00 · igualdad

Trump said this today at a rally. Seriously.

“OPM. I do that all the time. Other People’s Money. There’s nothing like doing business with other people’s money.”

.@realDonaldTrump: "There's nothing like doing things with 'other people's money'" https://t.co/hSsqpfDG6F
Ã¢ÂÂ ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 20, 2016

Wednesday, Sep 21, 2016 · 1:21:02 AM +00:00 · igualdad

NYT has finally published a story on this:

The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who regulates charities in the state, said last week that he was looking into the foundationto see whether it was in compliance with state laws. His office declined to comment on Tuesday about whether it would look into the donations tied to Mr. Trump’s business disputes.

Legal experts said the foundation’s donations in connection with litigation involving Mr. Trump’s personal businesses may have violated tax regulations that prohibit using nonprofit charities for private interests.

“That’s way across the line,” said Lloyd Mayer, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who specializes in nonprofit and tax law. “It’s not even close. It’s clearly self-dealing for a private foundation like the Trump Foundation.”

Mr. Mayer said he was surprised about the amount of money involved in the Trump expenditures. “I haven’t seen numbers this large before,” he said.

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