Trump Used His Charity as His Checkbook, New York State Says

President Donald Trump’s personal charity repeatedly and willfully broke state and federal laws by engaging in a decade-long pattern of self-dealing that culminated in illegal coordination with his political campaign, New York alleged in a scathing lawsuit.

The president is accused of rampant misconduct by using the charity as one of his personal checkbooks, directing funds meant for needy causes to settle business and personal debts, boost his political aspirations and benefit his namesake company, the Trump Organization. He also filed false statements to the Internal Revenue Service, according to the suit.

Barbara Underwood, the state’s attorney general, is seeking to dissolve the charity and personally penalize Trump and three of his children. She said she also sent referral letters to the IRS and the Federal Election Commission for further investigations of possible violations of federal law.

The lawsuit and referrals deepen the president’s extensive legal woes, adding to U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his campaign; a federal investigation in New York of his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen; civil suits related to hush-money deals; and claims the president’s businesses illegally take money from U.S. and foreign governments.

Dissolution of a charity is "an extraordinarily rare remedy" sought only when "the lack of governance or the level of misconduct is so significant that the foundation is no longer capable of governing itself," Jason Lilien, a former chief of the state attorney general’s charities bureau, said in a phone interview. "It must be crystal clear there’s no doubt there’s been a violation of the law to take this action against the President of the United States and his family."