BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors tied to other groups with spending ‘red flags’: report

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NY Post

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors — who resigned in the wake of a Post expose of her spending spree on lavish homes — is tied to several other fundraising organizations whose finances raise “potential red flags,” according to a new report.

 

One of the groups, Reform LA Jails, in 2019 collected more than $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to a consulting company owned by Cullors and her spouse Janaya Khan, New York magazine said.

Another $211,000 was paid to Cullors’ pal Asha Bandele, who co-wrote her memoir, and about $86,000 was paid to an entertainment, clothing and consulting company called Trap Heals, which was started by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors’ child, according to the report.

Reform LA Jails also reportedly paid $270,000 to a consulting company run by its treasurer, Christman Bowers, who’s also known as Shalomya Bowers and has signed tax documents as the deputy executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which reportedly has $60 million its coffers but no leader since Cullors quit under fire in May.

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The Black Lives Matter Scam

 

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation did not raise a single penny for the first six years of its existence. It couldn’t.

The foundation wasn’t even registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a charity. But after George Floyd’s murder in May of 2020, tens of millions of dollars were given to this organization from major corporations and celebrities. And now, no one even knows where all that money has gone. Even worse, there doesn’t appear to be anyone in charge of the organization who can provide that information.

Founded in 2013 after the death of Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter was little more than a hashtag and a website that loosely coordinated activism in communities across the country to “intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.”

For years, there did not appear to be a lot of outside resources directed to the organization. But that all changed in 2020.

Unable to accept the avalanche of money sent its way, BLM channeled donations through Thousand Currents and the Tides Foundation until the IRS approved its application for nonprofit status in December 2020. Around that time, Thousand Currents transferred $66.5 million to BLM — a transaction personally signed off on by BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors.

Cullors later issued the organization’s first-ever “impact report” in February 2021, claiming that the organization had raised over $90 million in 2020, spent $8.4 million on operating expenses, and given out $21.7 million to local BLM chapters and affiliated organizations. But these were just top-line numbers in a flashy communications product. No details were given on who was specifically paid what.

Just three months later, Cullors left BLM, claiming that she wanted to focus on other projects. She adamantly denied charges that she left the organization due to media reports that she had recently purchased millions of dollars' worth of real estate for herself.

When Cullors left BLM, she announced that activists Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele would replace her as senior executives. But Themba and Bandele later released a statement that they “were not able to come to an agreement with the acting Leadership Council about our scope and work authority.”

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Illinois Gov. Pritzker gave $300K in federal COVID relief funds to BLM chapter now facing eviction

The leader of the Lake County BLM chapter is also facing a slate of criminal charges in court.

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Indiana attorney general says BLM's 'house of cards' starting to fall amid financial questions

Indiana's attorney general criticized Black Lives Matter, calling it a "house of cards" and making his state the latest to raise questions about the charity's finances.

Todd Rokita told the Washington Examiner the group that took in tens of millions of dollars amid the racial protests and riots of 2020, and now won't answer questions about its finances, fits a common and disturbing pattern.

"It appears that the house of cards may be falling, and this happens eventually with nearly every scam, scheme, or illegal enterprise," Rokita, a Republican, said in an exclusive interview. "I see patterns that scams kind of universally take: failure to provide board members, failure to provide even executive directors, failure to make your filings available. It all leads to suspicion."