Black Lives Matter’s national arm has apparently shut down all its online fundraising streams following an investigation which exposed the charity’s lack of financial transparency.
The group’s war chest has raised alarms with transparency watchdogs and charity auditors after it was recently confirmed that BLM took in $90 million throughout 2020, some of which was “distributed to their partner organizations,” but had a cool $60 million left in its accounts – with seemingly no one in charge of the organization and its funds.
The penny began to drop last year after it was revealed that Black Lives Matter co-founder and self-professed ‘trained Marxist‘ purchased a $1.4 million Los Angeles home, in an upwardly mobile largely white district. As it turns out, it was one of her many real estate investments. Patrisse Cullors (pictured above, center) founded BLM with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi in 2013, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Ever since Cullors’ property empire came under scrutiny, she has all but disappeared from the public spotlight, and even announced she was ‘leaving’ the organization, but didn’t appoint a successor.
According to Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch, BLM is “Like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction.”
And the plot thickens…
Washington Examiner reports…
Black Lives Matter shut down all of its online fundraising streams late Wednesday afternoon, just days after California threatened to hold the charity’s leaders personally liable over its lack of financial transparency.
The move comes less than a week after a Washington Examiner investigation found that BLM has had no known leader in charge of its $60 million bankroll since its co-founder resigned in May. California and Washington recently ordered BLM to cease all fundraising activities in their blue states due to the failure of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the legal entity that represents the national BLM movement, to report information about its finances in 2020, the year it raised tens of millions amid the racial protests and riots that followed George Floyd’s killing.
“We take these matters seriously and have taken immediate action,” an unidentified spokesperson for the BLMGNF told the Washington Examiner. “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.”
SEE ALSO: BLM’S Millions Unaccounted for After Leaders Quietly Jumped Ship
The donation button that used to be featured prominently on BLM’s website was nowhere to be found as of Wednesday evening.
The California Department of Justice told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that “BLMGNF is prohibited from soliciting donations so long as its status is listed as delinquent.”
Despite the notice, BLM accepted a $1 donation from a Washington Examiner reporter based in California on Wednesday morning.
The California DOJ said Wednesday afternoon that it would not confirm or deny an investigation into BLM so as to “protect its integrity.”
BLM also received notice from the state of Washington on Jan. 5 to “immediately cease” all fundraising activities in the state. Washington warned the charity that it could face fines of $2,000 for each violation, but as recently as Monday, the charity accepted a $1 contribution from a Washington resident.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita previously said BLM’s refusal to answer basic questions about its finances and operations fits a common and disturbing pattern.
“It appears that the house of cards may be falling, and this happens eventually with nearly every scam, scheme, or illegal enterprise,” Rokita, a Republican, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “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.”
Continue this story at the Washington Examiner
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