Black Lives Matter Teeters On Bankruptcy As Insider Transactions Continue
Black Lives Matter finished its latest fiscal year nearly $9 million in the red, even as world's premier race-grifting organization continued shelling out millions to execs and relatives of co-founder Patrisse Cullors, according to new tax documents posted last week and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation spent double what it took in -- $17 million in outlays against just $8.5 million in gross revenue. In contrast, the group took in a whopping $77 million in contributions and grants in the preceding fiscal year, which included half of 2020. Assets plummeted by 28% year-over-year, from $41.9 million to $30.2 million for the fiscal year.
"That means it has spent two-thirds of the $90 million it raised [in 2020]," reports the New York Post. Given this report is for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2022, the group's balance sheet may look a lot worse today, after another 11 months of potential deterioration.
Broken down by major categories, Black Lives Matter spent $11.5 million on "program services expenses." $5.1 million on "management general expenses" and $485,000 on fundraising -- after all, you have to spend money to waste money.
Co-founder Cullors quit the group in May 2021 after the New York Post revealed wild spending by the group and Cullors herself, with massive amounts of the purported charity's money also flowing to her family members. Some of the greatest hits:
- BLM paid $970,000 to a company owned by the father of Cullors' child to "produce live events" and for "creative services"
- Her brother Paul Cullors was paid $840,000 for providing "security services" for the group
- Cullors spent $3.2 million to buy four high-end homes, including a $1.4 million house near Malibu and a "custom ranch" in Georgia with an airplane hangar and runway
- BLM bought a $5.6 million mansion in Los Angeles, which Cullors claimed as an "investment" that would also serve as a "media creation space" and even a safe house for activists. She hosted a Biden inauguration party there.
- The group and its affiliates bought a $1.7 million luxury condo in the Bahamas and a $6 million Toronto mansion
Many eyebrow-raising expenditures have continued, according to the latest financial disclosures. A company owned by Cullors' successor, Shalomyah Bowers, was paid $1.69 million over two years for "management and consulting services."
A board member's firm took $1.06 million for "consulting," and an unidentified board member's company got $600,000 in the settlement of a "contract dispute." Cullors' brother's security company -- Black Ties LLC --was paid another $756,000, and the brother himself also scored $125,000 in compensation plus another $15,000 for unspecified security.
Black Lives Matter has done NOTHING for black folks. pic.twitter.com/TpYWkMIerP
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) May 22, 2023
"While Patrisse Cullors was forced to resign due to charges of using BLM’s funds for her personal use, it looks like she’s still keeping it all in the family,” the National Legal and Policy Center's Paul Kamenar told the Washington Free Beacon.
Ohio State University accounting professor Mittendorf was more diplomatic, telling Newsweek that the most significant issue arising from the new disclosure filings is the "continued and substantial transactions with insiders. While this is not improper per se, it does raise concerns about potential conflicts of interest in governing the organization."
Referring to the giant influx of money following George Floyd's killing by Minneapolis police, Cullors marveled, "That was a lot of white guilt money. There’s a lot of white folks being like, ‘We just got to put the money'."
