(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The D.C. Attorney General’s Office sued a vocal proponent of the Defund the Police movement for allegedly misusing donations to his nonprofit to fund a lavish lifestyle, including a Cancun getaway and shopping sprees.
Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb alleged Monday that activist Brandon Anderson violated D.C.’s nonprofit and workers’ rights laws by exploiting funds from Raheem AI, a tax-exempt, anti-police nonprofit he founded.
Anderson, a prominent activist and supporter of the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements, has lectured at MIT, where he once argued that “defunding the police is an important next step for the country.”
Schwalb implicated the nonprofit’s board of directors, accusing them of allowing Anderson to commit violations and failing to ensure payment to the organization’s sole employee.
“Not only did their financial abuses violate fundamental principles of nonprofit governance, but Anderson and Raheem AI failed to pay their employee the wages they had earned,” Schwalb said in a press release.
He added, “My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers.”
According to the lawsuit, filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court, Anderson diverted $75,000 for personal use, spending over $40,000 on a luxury vacation rental service offering stays in high-end mansions and penthouses.
He allegedly spent $10,000 on Airbnb rentals, including a Cancun resort, $10,000 on designer clothing and $5,000 on emergency veterinary expenses.
Anderson also violated D.C.’s personnel mandates, which require nonprofits to maintain both a president and a treasurer to manage operations and finances.
Raheem AI has not had a treasurer since 2020, and the board of directors failed to implement measures to rein in the organization’s finances, including what Schwalb described as “Anderson’s corruption.”
Raheem AI deputy director Jasmine Banks flagged Anderson’s misconduct to the board, which placed him on leave in April 2024. Banks continued working for the nonprofit but has not received wages for their work.
According to the lawsuit, Anderson forced the employee to sign a non-compete agreement, violating D.C. law that bans such clauses for contracts under $150,000.
The D.C. lawsuit followed an investigation by the leftist New York Times.
