Highlights
- The Donald J. Trump Foundation claimed to distribute funds from Donald Trump’s book to charitable causes but was accused of misuse of funds.
- The lawsuit alleged that the foundation served as a “checkbook” for Trump’s personal and business interests, with funds being used improperly.
- The Trump children were required to undergo training but faced no further consequences.
Before he became president of the US in 2016, Donald Trump was a businessman in New York City. Trump was so successful that his net worth soared to $2.5 billion. In conjunction with owning businesses, he also founded charitable organizations. One of the best known that Trump founded was the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a foundation that claimed it would distribute the funds made from Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal, to other charitable causes.
The Donald J. Trump Foundation was founded in 1988. During that time, the foundation claimed to make donations to many charitable causes that ranged in size from the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Those running the foundation included Trump as well as his three eldest children, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump. The trio, along with other named members, made up the Board of Directors for many years. Tiffany Trump has little to do with her father, and she was not asked to be on the board.
A Pair Of $145 Sandals Almost Cost Ivanka Trump Millions In Court
Ivanka Trump’s clothing line caused some problems in the past with various lawsuits.
In 2018, a lawsuit was brought against Trump, Ivanka, Donald, and Eric. Trump was ordered to pay $2 million and to distribute the $1.75 million that was left in the charity. Ivanka and her siblings had to undergo mandated training after a court found misuse of charitable funds. All of this appears to have had a snowball effect on the lawsuits that have plagued Trump in the years since.
Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., And Eric Trump Were Board Members Of The Donald J. Trump Foundation
Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump served on the board for years but never attended a meeting
Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump were named members of the board that oversaw the Donald J. Trump Foundation. At the time, the three siblings were close. Since Ivanka has stepped out of the spotlight, she and Donald Jr. have a strained relationship.
It was never publicly disclosed as to what Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric’s roles were with the foundation. However, people who serve on the board of a non-profit have specific rules they have to follow. This ensures that when overseeing the management of a charity the use of funds goes towards the mission statement set forth by the foundation.
“Board members are the fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure the nonprofit has adequate resources to advance its mission.”
Based on this definition, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric were supposed to use “ethical and legal governance” when making decisions about where the money from the foundation was supposed to go. This meant that every monetary donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation should have gone to another charitable cause. The funds in no way were to be used by Trump or any members of the board members’ personal agendas.
However, the New York Attorney General, Barbara Underwood, found cause to investigate Trump’s foundation in 2018. The investigation occurred after it was determined that the board had not met since 1999.
Attorney General Underwood claimed that there was no one to stop Trump from using the funds of the foundation for whatever he pleased.
Ivanka Trump Called Donald Just Before Her Appearance David Letterman, Worrying About How The Interview Would Go
Ivanka Trump had some concerns just prior to her interview on The Late Show with David Letterman.
“The Board has not met since 1999 and does not oversee the activities of the Foundation in any way,” Attorney General Underwood explained. “The Board has not set policy or determined the direction, operations or acts of the Foundation. … In the absence of a functioning board, Mr. Trump ran the Foundation according to his whim, rather than the law.”
Not only was Trump named in the lawsuit, but Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric were as well, given the duration of their position with the Donald J. Foundation right before the lawsuit was brought against them.
Ivanka Trump, Her Siblings, And Donald Trump Were Named In A Lawsuit For Misuse Of Donald J. Trump Foundation Funds
The lawsuit claimed the foundation served as a “checkbook” for “business and political interests”
Trump, Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric, found themselves named in a lawsuit that was filed in 2018. The reason for the lawsuit was the suspicion of misuse of funds from the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Underwood stated that the foundation was “little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.” The lawsuit went on to say that Trump showed a “shocking pattern of illegality” with how funds were used from the foundation and that as board members, it was Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric’s jobs to make sure funds were not used for personal interests.
Instead, the lawsuit stated that on more than one occasion, the funds meant for charitable purposes were used to benefit Trump. Some of the claims, according to Vanity Fair included:
- $5,000 was taken from the Donald J. Trump Foundation to pay for advertisements for Trump Hotels.
- $10,000 was used for a portrait of Trump. That painting was later found on display at Trump Doral, a sports bar Trump owns.
- $100,000 was donated to the Fisher House Foundation to settle legal issues with the city of Palm Beach
- $158,000 was donated to the Martin Greenberg Foundation after the founder sued Trump for failing to pay a promised $1 million for scoring a hole-in-one at a charity golf tournament put on by the Trump National Golf Club
- $100,000 to settle various other legal disputes brought against Trump
As a result of these charges, the Attorney General sought to have Trump and his eldest children barred from ever sitting on the board of a charitable organization again.
While that was not granted, the judge in the case determined that Trump would have to dissolve the Donald J. Trump Foundation, donate the remaining $1.75 million in funds to specific charitable organizations, and pay damages of $2 million that would also be donated to specific charitable organizations.
Ivanka Trump Denied Demanding An Insane Modeling Salary When She Was Just 16
When Ivanka Trump was only 16 years old, she had to fend off vicious rumors about her modeling career.
As for Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric, they were required to take court-mandated training classes so that they knew the roles of those who served on the board of non-profit organizations.
Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., And Eric Trump Were Ordered To Take Court-Mandated Board Training Classes
Three Trump siblings were disciplined for their lack of action as directors
After the order came down from the court, rumors flew about the punishment that Ivanka and her brothers received. Many believed that not only did they have to take court-mandated training classes but they were also barred from ever starting, working with, or serving on the board of a charity in the future.
As it turns out, the only thing that Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric had to do was do the court-mandated classes. It does not appear that the trio actually did anything for the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Instead, the Trump siblings served their father’s foundation in name only.
“His children were not subject to these restrictions, but it may be because the board had not met from 1998 to 2018, so it was only a ‘board’ on paper,” Joan Meyer, a partner at the law firm Thompson Hine, explained about why Trump was required to have independent board members and serve financial statement to the AG’s office, among other requirements if he were to serve on a non-profit board in the five years after the lawsuit, but his eldest kids were not.
Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric had to take court-mandated board training sessions “pertaining to charitable organizations and the fiduciary responsibilities of those organizations’ directors and officers,” the court motion stated.
These sessions were completed before the final Order was read by the Court and no fines were required to be paid by Ivanka or her brothers.
Source: NewsFinale
