Donald Trump took money from the supposedly charitable Trump Foundation and used it to pay his own legal bills. That sounds bad enough. And in fact, it’s illegal. But how did Trump get those legal bills? It’s Donald Trump drilled down to his essence. It’s 200-proof Trumpism.
It’s cheating at golf.
The country club calamity arose in August 2010, after Martin Greenberg, the CEO of Sterling Commodities Corp., hit a hole-in-one on the 13th hole while playing in a for-charity tournament at the Trump National Golf Club, Westchester, in Briarcliff Manor, New York.
Under the rules of the competition, Greenberg was entitled to a $1 million prize.
This kind of payout, where a golfer drops some cash into a pot then takes a single shot at a million dollars, is a common feature of charity tournaments. The odds of winning are long, and clubs can purchase insurance against the rare chance of it happening for a small fraction of the prize.
In Greenberg’s case, he put his money in the jar, stepped up to the tee, and drove it into the cup. Big cheers all around! Except for one thing.
But just over an hour after Greenberg’s shot, he was “summoned” to meet with representatives from Trump’s club and the insurance company that underwrote the prize to examine the spot from where he hit his shot.
William Fried, one of Greenberg’s attorneys, told The News the claim was ultimately denied because “the markers at the tee were not set at the right yardage” and that “the course” — owned by Trump in this case — “traditionally sets those markers.”
The rules stated that the shot had to come from at least 150 yards? So, guess where Trump planted the tees. Did you guess less than 150 yards? You win! Except, like Greenberg, you win nothing.
Greenberg took Trump to court. And Trump, that famous scrapper who never, ever settles — settled for a payout of $158.000. Even then, Donald Trump wasn’t about to pay using his own money.
The money ... came from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, tax forms for the mogul’s charity from 2012 show.
Leaders of nonprofit groups and charities are legally forbidden from using money that could benefit themselves or their personal businesses.
They certainly are. Trump’s payment to Greenberg to cover mooching on the golf course was illegal.
Greenberg, by the way, asked that the funds from the Donald Trump Foundation go straight to his own favorite charity, which is the Martin Greenberg Foundation. Really.
Comments are closed on this story.