WASHINGTON _ Donald Trump's charitable foundation said on an Internal Revenue Service filing that it violated rules preventing leaders of nonprofit organizations from using a charity's money to benefit themselves or other "disqualified" people.
The president-elect's charity acknowledged it engaged in so-called "self-dealing" on an IRS form for 2015 that was posted to Guidestar, a charity tracking organization.
The admission comes after a series of reports in The Washington Post found Trump had used foundation money to pay for legal settlements, including a dispute over an oversized flagpole at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla.
The president-elect also used his foundation's money to purchase portraits of himself at charity auctions, as well as memorabilia like a football helmet signed by former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow.
The foundation said in the tax documents it had transferred "income or assets to a disqualified person" and again checked "yes" when asked if the charity had done so in previous years. That's a discrepancy from previous filings signed by the president-elect that said the group had not transferred money to an ineligible person or entity.
Trump's transition team didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The documents do not say who benefited from the practices or explain what instances ran afoul of the charity's legal obligations.
In the final presidential debate, Trump said that money from the foundation "goes 100 percent" to different charitable causes.
"I don't get anything," he said. "I don't buy boats. I don't buy planes."
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the Trump Foundation to cease soliciting charitable donations in October, after the state's charity bureau determined the group had been fundraising even though it wasn't registered to do so.
