Self-Dealing Purchases: Charity Funds Used to Buy Personal Items Including Portraits and a Tim Tebow Helmet
Tier 1Resolved2007-01-01 to 2019-11-07
Factual Summary
As part of the broader dissolution case against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, the New York Attorney General documented multiple instances in which Trump used charitable funds to purchase personal items that were displayed at his for-profit properties or retained for his personal use.
In 2007, the Trump Foundation spent $20,000 at a charity auction to purchase a six-foot-tall portrait of Donald Trump painted by artist Michael Israel. The portrait was subsequently displayed at the Trump National Doral golf resort in Florida. In 2014, the Foundation spent an additional $10,000 on a second portrait of Trump, a smaller painting by artist Havi Schanz. That portrait was hung at one of Trump's sports bars at Doral. Both purchases constituted self-dealing under federal tax law because the charitable funds were used to acquire items that benefited Trump personally rather than serving any charitable purpose.
Also in 2012, the Trump Foundation paid $12,000 at a charity auction for a signed Tim Tebow Denver Broncos helmet and jersey. The memorabilia was retained for Trump's personal use rather than donated to a charitable beneficiary. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold tracked the items and reported that they were displayed at Trump's properties.
The New York Attorney General's office cited these purchases as part of a pattern of illegal self-dealing in its lawsuit against the Foundation. Under IRS rules governing private foundations, self-dealing occurs when a foundation's resources are used to benefit the foundation's insiders rather than the charitable purposes for which the foundation exists. The Trump Foundation acknowledged violating the IRS self-dealing prohibition on its 2016 tax return by checking a box on the Form 990-PF indicating that it had engaged in acts of self-dealing.
Justice Saliann Scarpulla ordered the Foundation dissolved in December 2018. On November 7, 2019, Trump was ordered to pay $2 million in damages. The remaining Foundation assets, including the portraits and the Tebow memorabilia, were ordered liquidated and the proceeds distributed to court-approved charities.
Primary Sources
1. NY AG Press Release, "AG James Secures Court Order Against Donald J. Trump, Trump Children, and Trump Foundation," November 7, 2019: https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2019/ag-james-secures-court-order-against-donald-j-trump-trump-children-and-trump
2. Trump Foundation Form 990-PF (2016), self-dealing disclosure on IRS filing
3. Decision and Order, People v. Trump, Index No. 451130/2018 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Nov. 7, 2019)
Corroborating Sources
1. Washington Post: "Trump used $258,000 from his charity to settle legal problems," David Fahrenthold, September 2016
2. Fortune: "The Trump Foundation's Signed Tim Tebow Helmet and 2 Portraits of the President Are for Sale," December 18, 2018
3. Slate: "Trump Foundation Forced to Liquidate Remaining Material Assets, Which Mainly Consist of Schlocky Portraits of Donald Trump," December 2018
4. Hollywood Reporter: "Donald Trump Bought Tim Tebow-Signed Helmet With Charity Funds," September 2016
Counterarguments and Context
Trump's attorneys characterized the self-dealing violations as technical infractions rather than evidence of corrupt intent. They argued that the purchases were made at charity auctions for the benefit of the host charities and that the items were displayed at semi-public venues rather than hidden in private residences. The Trump Foundation's acknowledgment of self-dealing on its 2016 tax return was described by Trump's legal team as a voluntary disclosure. Trump argued that the broader litigation against the Foundation was politically motivated and orchestrated by the New York Attorney General's office. The IRS imposed a $2,500 excise tax penalty for the self-dealing violations, a standard remedy under the tax code for first-time violations.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 1 because the self-dealing was acknowledged on the Foundation's own tax filing, adjudicated by a New York Supreme Court justice, and resolved through a court-ordered dissolution and $2 million damages award. The underlying facts are not in dispute. The broader Foundation case, including campaign coordination and the Bondi donation, is documented in CHARIT-001.