The Donald J Trump Foundation, a charity owned by the United States Republican presidential candidate, is under the New York attorney general's scanner "to make sure it's complying with the laws", a CNN report quoting the official said. Officials told The Guardian that the investigation into the non-profit organisation was opened based "on troubling transactions that recently came to light".

The channel quoted New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (pictured above) on Tuesday, who in an interview said, "My interest in this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of non-profits in New York state, and we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view." Schneiderman, a Democrat, sued Trump and his now defunct Trump University for fraud in 2013.

Reports by the The Washington Post showed irregularities in the charity's accounts and highlighted that tax records show no donations from Trump to the foundation since 2008. Last week, the US Internal Revenue Service had fined Trump's charity a sum of $2,500 for donating the same amount to a group supporting the campaign of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, to get reelected in 2013.

Bondi's office was considering investigating allegations against the Trump University during that period, but decided against it after receiving the cheque. According to US law, a non-profit organisation cannot make political donations. Senior Vice-President of the Trump Foundation Jeffery McConney said the donation was an "unintentional mistake".

Trump campaign officials said, "Schneirderman is a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years. This is nothing more than another left-wing hit job designed to distract from Crooked Hillary Clinton’s disastrous week." Americans will choose between Trump and Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton during the presidential election on November 8.