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Law and Justice

Trump Foundation dissolution blocked by legal probe

December 28, 2016

Donald Trump's efforts to dissolve his charitable foundation have been stalled by an ongoing probe. Prosecutors are still investigating whether Trump personally benefited from the controversial foundation's spending.

https://p.dw.com/p/2UwBP
USA Donald Trump in Palm Beach
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Harnik

US President-elect Donald Trump's attempts to eliminate conflicts of interest hit a legal snag on Tuesday when the New York attorney general's office said he cannot move ahead with his plan to dismantle the charitable Donald J. Trump Foundation.

"The Trump foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete," said Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The statement followed Trump's announcement on Saturday that he wanted to dismantle the foundation before he takes office on January 20. Prosecutors, however, are still probing the foundation's inner workings and whether Trump personally benefited from its spending.

Trump has asserted that his foundation was efficiently run and that all the money was given to charities.

"I gave millions of dollars to DJT Foundation, raised or recieved (sic) millions more, ALL of which is given to charity," the president-elect tweeted late on Monday.

Trump's charity foundation has already admitted it violated IRS regulations that barred it from using money or assets to benefit Trump, his family, his companies or contributors to the foundation.

rs/kl (AP, AFP)