The California Department of Justice has ordered Black Lives Matter to disclose details of the $60 million war chest it accumulated from donations.
The state’s DOJ warned BLM’s leaders that they will be personally liable if they fail to disclose details of how the donations are spent, as required by California law.
In a letter obtained by The Washington Examiner, the CA DOJ wrote:
“The organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s).
“Charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs.
“Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.”
BLM is prohibited from “soliciting or disbursing charitable funds” in California until it submits the required forms and the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the legal entity that represents the national BLM movement.
If the organization fails to comply, it faces fines for “each month or partial month for which the report(s) are delinquent.”
From The Washington Examiner:
BLM reported in February 2021 that it closed out 2020 with $60 million in its bank accounts, but the charity won’t say who has been in control of the funds for the past eight months, and the address listed on the charity’s 2019 tax forms is wrong.
BLM’s co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, appointed two activists to lead the organization after she resigned in May 2021 amid criticism of her personal finances, but her replacements quietly announced in September that they never took the job because of disagreements with BLM.
Local black activists publicly criticized the national BLM organization in late 2020 for its lack of financial transparency and for providing little to no funding to local BLM chapters across the country.
CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron previously said BLM was “like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction.”
From The Daily Mail:
The notice comes just days after it was revealed that BLM has not had anyone in charge of its finances since co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned last May.
It is not clear who is currently in charge of the activist group after all three of its founding members – Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi – left the organization.
Cullors, 38, stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN) last year amid scrutiny of her $3.2 million property empire.
The scrutiny into BLMGN’s also finances comes after it was reported that the group transferred $6.3 million to Cullors spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2001.
California’s warning follows an order from Washington state instructing BLM to ‘immediately cease’ fundraising in the state due to its ‘lack of financial transparency’.
California threatens to hold BLM’s leaders personally liable for missing financial records over $60M in donationshttps://t.co/Ot6myKKf7Y
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 2, 2022
