Trump’s Charity Claims May Be Fraudulent [View all]

[DonViejo]

He could be held liable if he failed to fulfill promises to donate proceeds from his book, 'Crippled America.'

By Ben Schreckinger

06/20/16 05:18 AM EDT

If Donald Trump’s claims that certain of his commercial ventures benefit charity are untrue, he could be held liable under Section 349 of New York’s General Business Law, which forbids deceptive business acts and practices, as well as under charitable solicitation laws, according to legal experts.

In promoting products as varied as Trump University, Trump Vodka, a Trump board game, and his new book “Crippled America,” the businessman has declared that the proceeds would go to charity. None of Trump’s proceeds from Trump University have gone to charity, and only a few hundred dollars of charitable giving related to Trump Vodka has been accounted for. News organizations have been unable to verify his other claims, and his representatives have been unwilling to provide more information about them or even to confirm them.

While lawyers say Trump could be liable in a number of states for false claims, the official most likely to take up the matter would be Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of New York, where Trump resides and is already the defendant in a consumer fraud case brought by the state over Trump University.

Referring to Trump’s claims about his “Crippled America” book profits, a spokesman for Scheiderman’s office said that the law against deceptive business practices was a more likely avenue of pursuit than the charitable solicitation law. But he added that lawyers at the attorney general’s office had not yet decided whether to look into the matter.

In recent weeks, Trump has come under fire for exaggerating the amount of money he raised for veterans at a campaign event in January and for donating much of that money only after reporters began asking questions about it. A state AG investigation of Trump’s other claims of charitable giving would keep the issue alive and burden the presumptive Republican nominee – already embroiled in a number of lawsuits – with another legal headache.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/donald-trump-charities-fraud-laws-224510#ixzz4C8jFa0EQ