the new york attorney general<u+2019>s office has demanded that donald<u+00a0>trump <u+2019>s charitable foundation suspend fundraising activity in the state, issuing a cease-and-desist letter accusing the republican<u+00a0>presidential nominee<u+2019>s personal nonprofit of violating registration<u+00a0>requirements. eric schneiderman, a democrat, notified the<u+00a0>donald j. trump foundation friday that it failed to register as an<u+00a0>organization that solicits or receives charitable contributions in new<u+00a0>york. the notification was made public monday. under new york law, nonprofits as large as the trump foundation are required to declare their<u+00a0>status as a fundraising organization as soon as they raise $25,000<u+00a0>in new york from state residents or entities within a reporting year. the foundation is currently registered as a non-fundraising entity.<u+00a0>the attorney general, whose office regulates charities operating in<u+00a0>the state, cited a foundation benefit for veterans held in january<u+2014>which raised close to $1.7 million online<u+2014>as evidence that it crossed the threshold. the organization<u+2019>s recent<u+00a0>federal tax filings also show hundreds of thousand of dollars a year<u+00a0>in contributions from new york-based donors. as of the end of 2014, the foundation had under $1.3 million in assets. hope hicks, spokeswoman for the trump campaign, said monday: <u+201c>while we remain very concerned about the political<u+00a0>motives behind ag schneiderman<u+2019>s investigation, the trump foundation<u+00a0>nevertheless intends to cooperate fully with the investigation.<u+201d> because it is an <u+201c>ongoing legal matter,<u+201d> ms. hicks said the foundation<u+00a0>wouldn<u+2019>t comment further. the foundation has 15 days from sept. 30<u+2014>the day the notice was<u+00a0>dated<u+2014>to correct its registration and file required paperwork. failure<u+00a0>to do so would be deemed a <u+201c>continuing fraud upon the people of the<u+00a0>state of new york,<u+201d> the notification said. scrutiny of the foundation that bears mr. trump<u+2019>s name has increased<u+00a0>in the final stretch of the presidential campaign. according to a report in the<u+00a0>washington post in september, mr. trump stopped donating to<u+00a0>the foundation after 2008. mr. schneiderman<u+2019>s office says it is conducting a wider investigation<u+00a0>into the foundation, looking at whether it has complied<u+00a0>with rules restricting revenues from flowing to directors or officers. last month, mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign provided new details about the<u+00a0>tax he paid after the foundation made an improper gift to a group<u+00a0>connected with florida<u+2019>s attorney general in 2013, just as trump<u+00a0>university was facing potential legal scrutiny by that office. the trump campaign said the donation was an inadvertent mistake. experts on nonprofit and charity law say it isn<u+2019>t uncommon for<u+00a0>the new york attorney general<u+2019>s office to issue a<u+00a0>cease-and-desist letter to a charity. such a letter doesn<u+2019>t have the force of law: mr. schneiderman<u+2019>s<u+00a0>office would need a court order to enforce its demand. a spokesman for mr. schneiderman said the office was <u+201c>not<u+00a0>currently seeking an injunction.<u+201d> typically, when the office issues a compliance notice to a charity,<u+00a0>the group can quickly resolve the matter by amending its status and back-filing any required financial statements,<u+00a0>according to seth perlman, a new york attorney who advises nonprofit<u+00a0>boards and represents nonprofit trade associations. he said that sometimes groups also sign consent decrees promising to accurately state their status in the future. under new york law, fundraising entities are subject to closer<u+00a0>scrutiny than are their non-fundraising counterparts. registering as<u+00a0>fundraising entity would require the trump foundation to submit audit<u+00a0>reports conducted by an independent certified public accountant. this is not the first time mr. schneiderman and mr. trump have publicly clashed. in a 2013 civil suit that is still pending, the attorney general sued<u+00a0>mr. trump<u+2019>s real-estate school, trump university, alleging it lacked<u+00a0>the proper licensing and defrauded students out of thousands of<u+00a0>dollars. mr. trump has denied the allegations, saying students got<u+00a0>their money<u+2019>s worth. months after that suit was filed, lawyers for mr. trump in late 2013<u+00a0>filed an ethics complaint against mr. schneiderman, accusing the<u+00a0>state<u+2019>s chief legal officer of personally soliciting donations from<u+00a0>two top trump organization executives at the same time his office was investigating trump university. a state ethics body took no action against mr. schneiderman in<u+00a0>response to mr. trump<u+2019>s ethics complaint. the news is the latest in a string of unfavorable developments for the<u+00a0>trump campaign, which spent the weekend on defense after a report in the new york times said the candidate recorded a tax deduction in 1995 so large it may have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal taxes for up to 18 years. mr. schneiderman<u+2019>s move could become a line of attack against mr.<u+00a0>trump from his opponent, democrat hillary clinton. mr. trump has accused<u+00a0>the clintons<u+2019> philanthropic venture, the clinton<u+00a0>foundation, of being a vehicle for political favors, while mrs.<u+00a0>clinton has so far mostly attacked mr. trump<u+2019>s real-estate business<u+00a0>practices and trump university. write to jacob gershman at jacob.gershman@wsj.com and joshua jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
trump foundation ordered to halt fundraising in new york - wsj
jacob gershman joshua jamerson