(Headline USA) Black Lives Matter shut down its online fundraising arm this week after the California Justice Department threatened to hold its leaders personally liable if they refused to divulge information about who is in charge of the charity’s $60 million in funding.
California officials sent a letter to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation this week ordering it to cease all fundraising activities in the state due to its lack of financial transparency. The state also warned BLM that if it did not submit the necessary financial disclosure forms, California would pursue legal action.
“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),” the letter from the California DOJ states.
An unidentified spokesperson for the BLMGNF told the Washington Examiner that the organization takes “these matters seriously and have taken immediate action.”
“We have immediately engaged compliance counsel to address any issues related to state fundraising compliance. In the interim, we have shut down online fundraising as we work quickly to ensure we are meeting all compliance requirements,” the spokesperson added.
As a result, the donation button that was once featured on the home page of BLM’s website has been removed.
However, BLM still accepted two separate $1 individual donations from a Washington Examiner reporter based in California and a Washington state resident on Wednesday, despite the two states’ warnings against continued fundraising.
BLM’s charity registration is also out of compliance in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Last week, it was reported that BLM has no known leader, and that no one previously affiliated with the organization knows who is in charge of the tens of millions of dollars BLM has raised.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who has questioned BLM’s finances for years, said “it appears [BLM’s] house of cards may be falling.”
“This happens eventually with nearly every scam, scheme, or illegal enterprise,” Rokita said.
“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,” he said.
