- The Trump Organization and Donald Trump's Presidential Inaugural Committee will pay a $750K fine.
- The payment settles DC Attorney General Karl Racine's investigation into 2017 inaugural funds misuse.
- Racine alleged that Trump illegally paid his Trump International Hotel vastly inflated fees.
The Trump Organization and his 2017 inaugural committee have agreed to pay $750,000 to settle allegations that Donald Trump improperly poured inauguration donations into his Trump International Hotel at inflated prices, thereby enriching his family.
The settlement ends an investigation into alleged inaugural fund misspending by DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine, who said Tuesday that it holds the former president's business and inauguration committee "accountable for illegal actions."
The AG's civil case against Trump's business and inaugural committee had been bound for trial as recently as February, when Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former close friend and advisor to Melania Trump, said on Twitter that she would be lead witness to take the stand.
The settlement notes that the Trump Hotel, one of the defendants in the AG's civil case, is in the process of being sold, possibly incentivizing the AG to settle.
But Trump's side may also have been more eager to settle after a DC judgereinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant in the case, a decision that also came in February.
The $750,000 will be donated to DC nonprofits that empower local youth to be changemakers in their community, Racine said in a press statement.
Trump himself does not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.
But in announcing the settlement, Racine doubled down on his lawsuit's allegation that Trump's business and inauguration committee used the inauguration to improperly line their pockets of Trump family members.
"After he was elected, one of the first actions Donald Trump took was illegally using his own inauguration to enrich his family," the AG said.
"We refused to let that corruption stand. With our lawsuit, we are now clawing back money that Trump's own inaugural committee misused," the AG added.
"No one is above the law — not even a president. Nonprofit funds cannot be used to line the pockets of individuals, no matter how powerful they are."
Future presidential inaugural committees are now "on notice," he said.
Representatives for Trump and his business did not immediately respond to a request for comment.