Black Lives Matter is making bank.
Executives of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Global Network Foundation Inc. “have nearly $42 million in assets, despite spending more than $37 million from July 2020 to June 2021,” Fox News reported on Tuesday.
The report comes from a 63-page compilation of tax documents acquired by the Associated Press, Fox reported.
Within the documents were some interesting numbers.
“Newly released tax filings revealed how Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors used charity funds to pay her friends and family large sums for various ‘consulting’ services, as well as charter a private flight,” the Daily Mail reported.
“The documents reveal that BLM paid a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors’ child, nearly $970,000 to help ‘produce live events’ and provide other ‘creative services.’ The co-founder’s brother, Paul Cullors, received more than $840,000 for providing security services to the foundation,” the UK paper wrote.
Others made big bank from the non-profit organization, too.
“A consulting firm run by Shalomyah Bowers, who is BLM’s board secretary and has previously served as deputy executive director, was paid more than $2.1 million for providing the organization with operational support, including staffing, fundraising and other key services,” the Mail reported.
Cullors resigned from the organization amid questions about its finances. She has denied claims she used money for personal matters and later “reimbursed BLM $73,523 for a charter flight for foundation-related travel, which the organization says she took in 2021 out of concern for COVID-19 and security threats,” the Mail reported. Nearly $6 million of cash collected by the organization was spent on a six-bedroom, six-bathroom house in Studio City that features a swimming pool, a soundstage and ample office space.
The tax filing also says the foundation invested $32 million in stocks from the $90 million it collected amid racial justice protests in 2020 that occurred in major cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd.
Brian Mittendorf, Ph.D., an accounting professor at Ohio State University, told Fox that the tax disclosure will likely set up the foundation for criticism because its “huge windfall” has a “mismatch” and “gaps.”
“It comes across as an early startup nonprofit, without substantial governance structure in place, that got a huge windfall,” Mittendorf told the outlet.
“People are going to be quick to assume that mismatch reflects intent. Whether there’s anything improper here, that is another question,” the professor said. “But whether they set themselves up for being criticized, I think that certainly is the case because they didn’t plug a bunch of those gaps.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.
Source: Dailywire
