Ivanka Named In Suit Against ‘Empty Shell’ Trump Foundation Charity
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Ivanka Trump was named in a bombshell lawsuit filed by the New York state attorney general on Thursday accusing the Donald J. Trump Foundation of operating under a “pattern of persistent illegal conduct, occurring over more than a decade.”
Ivanka Trump, who served as a board member for the foundation for over a decade and was often beside her father on the campaign trail, would be barred for one year from serving in a leadership role for a New York-based not-for-profit, according to court filings.
The suit could potentially impact her other charitable work, including support for a fund she created to support economic empowerment for women and girls. Ivanka also helped create the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative in the World Bank, which is sometime referred to as the “Ivanka Fund.”
“As our investigation reveals, the Trump Foundation was little more than a checkbook for payments from Mr. Trump or his businesses to nonprofits, regardless of their purpose or legality,” Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a statement. “This is not how private foundations should function and my office intends to hold the Foundation and its directors accountable for its misuse of charitable assets.”
Ivanka served as a board member from 2006 through Jan. 23, 2017, according to the suit.
She became an official government employee after leaving the foundation when she became an unpaid advisor to her father in March of 2017.
Though she is working gratis for the White House, Ivanka still earned more than $2 million in salary and severance from the Trump Organization and nearly $4 million from her investment in the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., according to public disclosure records.
Trump blasted the suit in a tweet, while taking a swipe at former attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who resigned last month after being accused of sexual assault.
….Schneiderman, who ran the Clinton campaign in New York, never had the guts to bring this ridiculous case, which lingered in their office for almost 2 years. Now he resigned his office in disgrace, and his disciples brought it when we would not settle.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2018
Contact Ben Fractenberg at fractenberg@forward.com or on Twitter, @fractenberg
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