Black Lives Matter Halts Fundraising Amid Scrutiny of Finances and Legal Threats
“BLM was given 60 days to file tax and charity documents for 2020 — the year it previously confirmed collecting a staggering $90 million, with at least $60 million left over after expenses and grants.”
People have started to notice that Black Lives Matter, the organization, is sitting on a massive pile of cash and doesn’t seem to be following standard procedures for a non-profit.
As a result of this increased scrutiny, they have temporarily suspended their fundraising operations.
Andrew Kerr reports at the Washington Examiner:
Black Lives Matter shuts down fundraising days after liberal states threatened legal action
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.”
Lee Brown of the New York Post has more:
Black Lives Matter labeled ‘delinquent’ by California AG over murky finances
BLM was given 60 days to file tax and charity documents for 2020 — the year it previously confirmed collecting a staggering $90 million, with at least $60 million left over after expenses and grants.
That fortune sparked a firestorm from affiliates that say they have never received much-needed financial help, while co-founder Patrisse Kahn-Cullors went on a real estate buying binge.
If it misses the 60-day deadline, BLM could lose its tax-exempt status and be hit with late fees “for each month or partial month for which the report(s) are delinquent,” the Justice Department’s letter warned.
“Charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs,” the letter said.
“Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status,” it continued.
The words “personally liable” appeared in bold twice in the letter.
My guess is that the leaders of BLM thought they were above reproach because, for the most part, they have been for years. Unfortunately for them, non-profits in the United States have to follow strict rules and protocols for reporting all monies going in and out.
They should also be made aware that accusations of racism mean nothing when you’re being audited.
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Comments
They can riot and burn cities, attack the police and even start their own autonomous zone but don’t fu*k with the tax man.
Was how they got Al Capone..
especially not when the bankrupt state of California wants its share
Millions in the bank and no one running the operation?
Must be getting toxic in the records and money disappearing
Lol don’t believe it
How about the investigators start with BLM founder Patrisse Jkhan-Cullors?
The $3.2 million in US real estate, $5 million(+) property in the Bahamas, etc., all recently acquired.
A true rags to riches story. Not bad for a self-described Marxist.
That’s not fair. The bulk of that was surely from her OnlyFans account.
It’s a shake down.
They are sitting on a giant war chest and they need to pay off the right people who enabled them to burn, loot and murder and NOT be treated like the J6 protesters.
I’m surprised Oregon hasn’t jumped in, they owe those politicians a pretty penny for letting them burn down Portland.
Never forget: Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife gave BILLIONS to them.
Billions?
Any references or links? Thank you.
How about the legions of woke American companies, led by leftist ass kissing fools, who donated millions to these grifters?
How about some refunds? Stockholders? Bueller…Bueller…Bueller?
Ya think the California AG is really going to do anything meaningful to enforce the law against BLM?
I’m not holding my breath.
I suspect that most of the missing $60M will never be found, probably sitting in several offshore accounts. The BLM big shots found they could guilt major corporations into donating millions, and I suspect they have been taking their share of the proceeds.
Stockholders in the corporations who have participated in this grift should be outraged, and heads should roll in the corporate offices.
blm was helpful when needed, but now they’re a liability. So they need to be taken down a peg or twelve.
They can cease fundraising now – it may have even been baked into the plan.
Because the real estate spending spree and the “disappearance” of millions of dollars have already occurred. Mission accomplished. Now the IRS will discover that no one really runs the organization. The founders have quit, and the command chain is now fuzzy.
It worked.
“People have started to notice that Black Lives Matter, the organization, is sitting on a massive pile of cash and doesn’t seem to be following standard procedures for a non-profit.”
Probably some of the same people who are only recently noticing that their 1099s from Bernie Madoff have stopped arriving.
“BLM has had no known leader in charge of its $60 million bankroll since its co-founder resigned in May. ”
Well, bankrolls are property, and property is theft, man.
“That fortune sparked a firestorm from affiliates that say they have never received much-needed financial help, while co-founder Patrisse Kahn-Cullors went on a real estate buying binge.”
Workers of the world… psych!
Sending money to communists is like sending bacon to Hasidim.
If they touch it, you know you have a sincerity problem.
Cynicism suggests that there’s a degree of face saving by California and Washington behind this because the BLM’’s racketeering received widespread national attention recently when the Canadian branch bought itself a mansion in Ottowa last week. (Toronto ? I forget which.) After the initial flurry of news several months ago about the purchase of multiple homes by Kahn-Cullors and a home purchased by another BLM “official” and the subsequent ‘retirement’ of both from the organization, the news cycle moved on and little more was heard.
They’ll pay a fine, find someone to issue apologies, mumble something about misunderstanding confusing forms, incur a few more ‘expenses,’ distribute a few ‘grants’ to ‘deserving’ organizations, and move on. The whole lousy lot – California, Washington, BLM, and the Feds if it gets that far – will have saved face after the initial huffing and puffing. (Though, if it gets out of hand it could also be a great face saving opportunity for the wretched CNN to report.)
BLM always was nothing but a shakedown operation.
And big corporate America fell for it.
I am not sure sure it was “falling for it”. It was either purposeful, that is, virtue signaling, or, it was protection money.
Some, Select [Black] Lives Matter with “benefits”. #HateLovesAbortion
Joker said, “I’m crazy enough to take on Batman, but the IRS? No, thank you!!”
On other hand $60M in bank waiting for 2022 or 2024 to roll around.
Spirit of Jackie McLean lives.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-12-17-1994351003-story.html