(Headline USA) Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who resigned from the organization last year after facing backlash for spending millions on lavish homes, is tied to several other fundraising groups with shady financial histories, according to New York magazine.
Cullors reportedly assists Reform LA Jails, which raised more than $1.4 million in 2019. Of that money, $205,000 went to a consulting company owned by Cullors and her spouse Janaya Khan. Another $211,000 went to Asha Bandele, a friend of Cullors’ who co-wrote her memoir, and $86,000 went to a consulting company called Trap Heals, which was started by the father of Cullors’ child, Damon Turner.
Cullors is also a part of Dignity and Power Now, JusticeLA, and the Justice Teams Network, each of which have passed around money to firms and people directly tied to Cullors.
Jeffrey Tenenbaum, a nonprofit lawyer in Washington, D.C., said the payments may have violated state and federal laws that prohibit nonprofits from self-dealing.
“The transactions at issue certainly raise eyebrows and potential red flags,” he said.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network’s finances have also come under scrutiny in recent weeks. One report alleged that no one in the organization knows who’s in charge, and the nearly $60 million in funding that it raised in 2020 has seemingly disappeared.
At least some of that money went to a Canadian charity run by Cullors’ partner, which she then used to purchase a mansion formerly owned by the Communist Party.
“Sixty million dollars is not chump change,” Doug White, a charity expert, said. “That they won’t give an honest or complete or straightforward answer in regards to its leadership is a concern.
“Not only do they not have an executive director right now, we think, but they also don’t want to tell you how the organization is being run,” he said.
