Poor Eric. I actually think he was trying to do something good. Then daddy found out he could make money off of it, and now Eric is in deep doo-doo.
"Eric Trump, who first hosted the Eric Trump Foundation golf invitational in 2007, has always maintained that he is able to hold the event on Trump Organization courses free of charge, and that much of the food, drinks, entertainment and equipment is either comped or paid for by sponsors. According to tax filings obtained by Forbes, the event expenses averaged around $50,000 for each of its first four years.
Then, in 2011, the cost rose to $142,000. This was allegedly because Trump learned that the course was being used without charge, and became upset. “Mr. Trump had a cow,” Ian Gillule, a former membership and marketing director at Trump National Westchester, told Forbes. “He flipped. He was like, ‘We’re donating all of this stuff, and there’s no paper trail? No credit?’ And he went nuts. He said, 'I don’t care if it’s my son or not—everybody gets billed.'” [emphasis mine]
OK, so that’s reprehensibly greedy on DJT’s part. But here is where daddy takes it from being merely greedy to explicitly criminal:
“Trump then essentially laundered money through the tournament by having his foundation donate to his son, in order to cover the event fees that the Trump Organization was now being paid.”
In other words, Trump had his so-called charity (which contained no funds donated by Trump himself; it was all from outside sources) donate the money to pay for the use of his (Trump’s) golf club. This is called ‘self dealing,’ and is patently illegal.
Daddy Trump quickly recognized the profit potential, and progressively upped the amount the charity event had to pay:
"By 2015, the event’s expenses had reached $322,000. Forbes spoke with golf tournament organizers and the former head golf pro at Trump National Westchester, and no one could fathom how a one-day charity event could cost so much money.
In what seems to be a measure to ensure the Eric Trump Foundation could make as much money for the Trump Organization as possible, Trump installed his own people on the foundation’s board, which was initially made up of friends of Eric’s who had no financial interest in the Trump Organization’s success. The Trump associates added to the board included Trump attorney Michael Cohen and Trump social media director Dan Scavino Jr."