Black Lives Matter Ordered to Cease Fundraising, Surrender Financials to DOJ
California and Washington Justice Departments demand records of donation money
© press
Black Lives Matter (BLM) has been ordered by the Justice Departments in two states to cease fundraising and hand over financial records to detail how donation money is handled.
At the end of January, California and Washington, both heavily Democratic states, sent letters to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc.
The states are threatening the organization with legal action over potential violations of financial reporting laws, according to The Washington Examiner.
The news comes as questions continue to mount over how BLM's huge war chest is managed and who is responsible for it.
In 2020 alone, during the height of far-left rioting, BLM took a staggering $90 million in donations from people believing they were helping fight racism.
However, the group has refused to reveal how the money is used and has failed to provide any evidence that it goes toward tackling racism.
© press
Meanwhile, reports continue to emerge of BLM's founders enriching themselves.
As Neon Nettle reported last week, further questions have been raised after it was revealed that the organization has funneled millions of dollars into a "charity" to buy a sprawling, lavish mansion for a BLM co-founder's wife.
The discovery has triggered major red flags after it was revealed that the huge sums of cash were pumped into a foundation run by the wife of BLM's controversial co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors.
However, the scandal is only the latest in a series of reports about the group's founders spending millions of dollars on personal property purchases.
The BLM Global Network Foundation is the legal entity of the national BLM movement and has received tens of millions of dollars in donations in recent years.
The organization has since faced backlash from local leaders who claim the umbrella group has been tight-fisted and secretive about the mounds of cash it has raised ostensibly for activism.
On January 31, the California Department of Justice sent a letter to BLM threatening to hold the organization’s leadership liable if $60 million worth of donations received is not correctly reported within 60 days.
“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 said, according to The Examiner.
Weeks earlier on January 5, the Washington Secretary of State Corporations and Charities Division sent a letter to the BLM national group warning that it could face a $2,000 fine for each in-state donation it receives before providing the state with detailed records on the group’s finances.
“Please note that a violation of the Act is also a violation of the consumer Protection Act … and could result in the imposition of injunctions and civil penalties of up to $2,000 per violation,” the letter said, according to The Examiner.
“Any organization that solicits and/or collects contributions in violation of the Act and CPA will be reported to the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division for further action.”
Both states banned the group from soliciting and receiving donations from residents within those states until records are received.
According to The Examiner, the BLM group is also out of compliance with charity codes in Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The BLM national group has reportedly been without permanent leadership for months.
Group co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned from the national organization in May amid fallout from a $3.2 million spending binge on real estate.
Cullors said that activists Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele would serve as the organization’s senior directors after her departure, but Themba and Bandele revealed in September that they never took the posts over disagreements with BLM, according to The Examiner.
The curious situation has raised a host of red flags among ethics experts.
The national group is reportedly sitting on $60 million.
© press
BLM Global Network Foundation has long faced harsh criticism from grassroots groups in the BLM movement.
Local activists have alleged that the national group has not doled out its sizable treasury to grassroots groups.
“Since the establishment of BLMGN, our chapters have consistently raised concerns about financial transparency, decision making, and accountability,” a coalition of BLM grassroots groups said in a joint statement in November 2020.
“Despite years of effort, no acceptable internal process of accountability has ever been produced by BLMGN and these recent events have undermined the efforts of chapters seeking to democratize its processes and resources.”
