Trump inauguration planners paid $26m to firm started by friend of Melania, tax filings reveal

President's swearing-in celebrations raised more than $100m - and biggest payment went to associate of First Lady

The Trumps at the Freedom Ball celebrating the inauguration, for which $107m was raised (Getty)

Donald Trump’s inauguration planners paid nearly $26m (£18.5m) to a firm started by a friend of his wife, and donated only $5m (£3.6m) - less than expected - to charity, its tax filings reveal.

The group that organised the President’s inauguration ceremony and celebrations in January last year raised a record $107m (£76,) from wealthy donors and corporations.

Most of the money – about $60m (£43m) – went to four event-planning companies.

But charitable donations included only $3m (£2.1m), previously publicised, for hurricane disaster relief and $250,000 (£178,000) for the Smithsonian Institution.

A total of $1.75m (£1.24m) was paid to firms involved in decorating and maintaining the White House and the Vice-president’s residence, according to the document sent to the Internal Revenue Service.

Mr Trump’s inauguration was followed by a host of celebratory events including a luncheon at the US Capitol, a parade and two official balls.

The company that received the largest payment, $25.8m (£18.4m), was WIS Media Partners in California. Records show it was created in December 2016, just six weeks before the inauguration. Its founder, according to a source close to the firm, was Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a long-time friend of First Lady Melania Trump.

Ms Winston Wolkoff, a regular at New York charity and society galas, worked as public-relations manager for Vogue and is an associate of the editor, Anna Wintour.

She has also mixed frequently with Mrs Trump, who attended her 40th birthday party in 2010. Ms Winston Wolkoff has also been an unpaid senior adviser to Mrs Trump’s official government office.

Two sources said she often referred to Mrs Trump as she delivered instructions for the inauguration. But Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Mrs Trump, said the First Lady “had no involvement” with the inaugural committee “and had no knowledge of how funds were spent”.

But Craig Holman, of government watchdog group Public Citizen, described the payments to Ms Winston Wolkoff’s firm and other expenditures as “fiscal mismanagement at its worst”.

Much of the money paid to event-production companies probably passed through other subcontractors.

Her firm is believed to have handled everything from securing venues and table settings to arranging Instagram filters, as well as the transportation of heavy equipment.

Ms Winston Wolkoff personally received $1.62m (£1.15m), a source said, but committee officials said the money went to help pay other workers.

Thomas J Barrack Jr, a friend of Mr. Trump and chairman of the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, had pledged to be thrifty with its spending, donating leftover funds to charity.

A Maryland-based events organiser was also paid $25m (£18m), and a New York one received $3.7m (£2.6m).

Some $9.4m (£6.7m) went on travel costs and $4.6m (£3.3m) on salaries and benefits for employees, including $100,000 (£71,280) paid to Rick Gates, the former Trump campaign aide, who has since been indicted on a host of charges by the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, according to the operative who worked with the inaugural committee.

The tax return indicated that the committee already donated to six non-profit groups, including $1m to the White House Historical Association.

The Vice President’s Residence Foundation, which is devoted to decorating and furnishing the Vice-president’s residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, received $750,000.

The American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical group, received $1m each. All three groups aided relief efforts after the hurricanes that ravaged the Gulf Coast, Florida and the Caribbean.