NEW YORK _ The Trump administration is refusing to release records behind a policy change that hides the donors to nonprofits, New York Attorney General Letitia James charged Monday in a federal lawsuit.
The IRS and Treasury Department announced the change in disclosure requirements in July 2018 without public notice or comment, the attorney general claimed.
New York's top prosecutor said that the identities of donors to nonprofits are necessary "to identify potential control risks, self-dealing transactions, private inurement and criminal conduct within the New York nonprofit sector."
"My office depends on these critical donor disclosure forms to be able to adequately oversee nonprofit organizations in New York," James said.
She was joined in the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal.
The suit seeks to force the IRS and Treasury Department to release internal records on how the agencies implemented the new policy. Social welfare organizations, labor organizations and business leagues are among the nonprofits affected by the change.
