Trump Foundation admits to violating ban on ‘self-dealing,’ new filing to IRS shows

THE WASHINGTON POST
By David A. Fahrenthold
Painter Michael Israel, left, poses with Donald and Melania Trump in 2007 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. Trump spent $20,000 that belonged to the Donald J. Trump Foundation to buy a six-foot-tall portrait of himself painted by Israel. (Michael Israel)
President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has admitted to the Internal Revenue Service that it violated a legal prohibition against “self-dealing,” which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their families. In three other cases, Trump’s foundation paid for items that Trump or his wife purchased at charity auctions. In another case from 2007, Trump’s wife, Melania, bid $20,000 on a six-foot-tall portrait of Trump painted by “speed painter” Michael Israel during a gala at Mar-a-Lago. And in 2014, Trump bid $10,000 to buy a four-foot painting of himself by artist Havi Schanz at another charity gala. [link]
Michael Israel - Portrait of Donald Trump (2007)
Painter Havi Schanz's portrait of Donald Trump