President Donald Trump's charitable foundation reached a deal to go out of business, even as Trump continues to fight allegations he misused its assets to resolve business disputes and boost his run for the White House.
New York's attorney general and lawyers for the Trump Foundation agreed on a court-supervised process for shutting down the charity and distributing about $1.7 million in remaining assets to other nonprofit groups.
The agreement resolved one part of the legal drama surrounding Trump, whose campaign, transition, inauguration and real estate empire are all under investigation.
Attorney General Barbara Underwood's lawsuit alleging Trump and his family illegally operated the foundation as an extension of his businesses and his presidential campaign will continue.
The lawsuit, filed last spring, seeks $2.8 million in restitution and a 10-year ban on Trump and his three eldest children - Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka - from running any charities in New York.
In a statement, Underwood cited "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation - including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more."
"This amounted to the Trump Foundation functioning as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business and political interests," she said.
Lawyers for the foundation have said any infractions were minor.
Trump had long pledged to dissolve the foundation and donate its funds to charity, but his lawyers said they were thwarted by the attorney general's office, which wanted oversight over the process.
Trump Foundation lawyer Alan Futerfas said the three-decade-old foundation has been looking to fold since Trump got elected in 2016.
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