self-dealing

Self-dealing occurs when a person in a position of trust, such as an officer or director of a corporation or charity, uses that position to enter transactions that benefit themselves rather than the organization or its beneficiaries. In the nonprofit context it is specifically prohibited, and tax-exempt charitable foundations are barred from transactions that financially benefit their insiders. There were self-dealing findings against the Trump Foundation, which a New York lawsuit alleged had been used as a personal piggy bank, leading to its dissolution in 2018 and an order that Donald Trump personally pay $2 million for misusing charitable funds.