NEW YORK (RNN) - The New York Attorney General has filed suit on Thursday against the Donald J. Trump Foundation.
New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood, who took over for Eric Schneiderman in May, filed the lawsuit, which claims the foundation engaged in a pattern of illegal self-dealing.
She asked a state judge to dissolve the Trump Foundation in the filing, saying the president repeatedly misused the money within the nonprofit for his own use, including paying his debt, according to a New York state investigation.
Underwood asked that Trump also be barred from leading a nonprofit for 10 years.
The president and three of his children - Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. - are also named in the lawsuit because they are board members of the nonprofit.
We are suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors @realDonaldTrump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump for extensive and persistent violations of state and federal law. https://t.co/aP2ui0tOTo pic.twitter.com/geSMA3fx2x
— New York Attorney General (@NewYorkStateAG) June 14, 2018
In November, the foundation filed documents saying it would wind down to avoid conflicts of interest.
"The foundation announced its intent to dissolve and is seeking approval to distribute its remaining funds" to other charities, according to a 2016 Internal Revenue Service filing.
New York's attorney general ordered the foundation to stop soliciting contributions in October 2016.
In a previous tax filing, the foundation said it violated a legal prohibition against a "self-dealing" that bars nonprofit leaders from funneling their charity's money to themselves, their businesses or their families.
Thursday is President Trump's 72nd birthday.
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