Black Lives Matter at risk of insolvency as debt soars
Black Lives Matter is at risk of insolvency after its debt climbed to $8.5 million (£6.8million) while some employees received seven-figure salaries.
Financial disclosures revealed that the investment accounts at BLM’s Global Network Foundation (GNF) plummeted by nearly $10 million in the most recent tax year, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
In the face of mounting debt, BLM GNF continued to hire relatives and friends of its founder on seven-figure contracts, according to the accounts.
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors’ brother Paul launched two companies that were paid $1.8 million for providing “professional security services” to the organisation.
In addition, Mr Cullors was also employed as “head of security” at BLM with a salary of £126,000. He was hired despite not having a history of working in the field.
Tax records from 2021 also showed that BLM GNF awarded a company owned by Damon Turner, the father of Ms Cullors’ child, almost $970,000 for helping to “produce live events” and other “creative services”.
Ms Cullors, who had been at the centre of the global Black Lives Matter foundation for six years, resigned in May 2021 following anger over the management of funds.
In an interview last year, she acknowledged the foundation was ill-prepared to handle the groundswell of support for the movement and its huge windfall of donations following the high-profile killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Her successor Shalomyah Bowers’ consulting firm received a hefty fee of $1.7 million for management and consulting services.
“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,” Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group, told the Free Beacon.
Cash flow has also dropped dramatically with fundraising earnings down 88 per cent in the 2022 fiscal year on the previous 12 months, at $9.3 million.
Concerns about the group’s finances have been mounting for years.
The organisation was forced to shut down its online fundraising streams in February 2022 because of transparency and compliance issues in several liberal states.
The Washington Free Beacon has reported that the group has spent two-thirds of the money it raised following the death of Mr Floyd.
Last year it emerged that around $12 million of those funds were used to purchase luxury homes in Toronto and Los Angeles.
BLM said that a Los Angeles mansion purchased for $5.8 million was to become a “safe space” for activists.
The organisation said that they were “working on transparency” following the reports.
