Donald Trumps charitable foundation which has been sustained for years by donors outside the Trump family has never obtained the certification that New York requires before charities can solicit money from the public, according to the state attorney generals office.
Under the laws in New York, where the Donald J. Trump Foundation is based, any charity that solicits more than $25,000 a year from the public must obtain a special kind of registration beforehand. Charities as large as Trumps must also submit to a rigorous annual audit that asks among other things whether the charity spent any money for the personal benefit of its officers.
If New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) finds that Trumps foundation raised money in violation of the law, he could order the charity to stop raising money immediately. With a courts permission, Schneiderman could also force Trump to return money that his foundation has already raised.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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Under state law, the foundation during that period was required to have only the least-demanding kind of certification, referred to as EPTL, because it is governed by the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law.
Under that registration, the Trump Foundation filed annual reports with the Internal Revenue Service and the state. But the state did not require an independent audit to ensure that the charity was handling its funds properly.