Donald Trump and one of his golf clubs in New York were accused of rigging a hole-in-one contest so that they wouldn't have to pay out an advertised $1 million prize for an ace.
At a 2010 golf tournament held at Trump National Golf Club Westchester in New York, Martin Greenberg, CEO of Sterling Commodities Corp., made a hole-in-one on the club's 13th hole during a charity outing benefiting the foundation of former NBA player Alonzo Mourning. Greenberg was excited, thinking he had scored a seven-figure payday.
However, an hour after the ace, Greenberg was told that he would not be paid the prize because the shot he struck did not travel at least 150 yards, the distance stipulated by an insurance provider whose policy underwrote the contest. When Greenberg, outraged, asked for more information, he learned that it was the golf club that typically set the distance on a par 3 for such a competition. In other words, the insurance provider threw Trump's club under the bus, suggesting they intentionally shortened the hole just enough so as to make sure the shot wouldn't qualify for the advertised $1 million prize.
Greenberg sued Trump's club, Mourning's foundation and the insurance provider. Ultimately, the suit was settled, with Greenberg saying he would drop the suit if money were donated to the charity of his choice. A sum of $158,000 was reportedly donated to Greenberg's personal charity, the Martin Greenberg Foundation.
As the Washington Post reports, Trump paid for the settlement with money from the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Under federal tax law, that's illegal as Trump would be getting personal benefit from the foundation's outlays.
Trump's campaign has questioned the veracity of the Washington Post's reporting, but they've offered no specifics on the parts of the Post's stories on the Trump Foundation they consider inaccurate or misleading.
