*(Via CN) — The head of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation was accused of siphoning off more than $10 million from donors, in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The lawsuit says that Shalomyah Bowers, the board secretary of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the non-profit organization that acts as the movement’s administrative arm, used Black Lives Matter, or BLM, as his “personal piggy bank,” and of “betray[ing] the public trust by self-dealing and breaching his fiduciary duties.”
Bowers has taken control of Black Lives Matter’s financial accounts and social media accounts, shutting out its founders and most prominent organizers, like Melina Abdullah. Abdullah, who founded BLM’s Los Angeles Chapter and also heads its grassroots wing, estimates that the Global Network Foundation’s financial accounts hold “over $100 million.”
The Global Network Foundation’s board of directors, Abdullah said, “are engaging in self-dealing, enriching themselves off of the backs of people who put their blood, sweat and tears into this movement.”
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Bowers did not respond to an email requesting an interview. But a lengthy statement posted to the homepage of blacklivesmatter.com said, “the allegations of Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots (BLMGR) are false. They are slanderous and devoid of reality.”
It added: “Melina Abdullah and BLMGR’s storytelling concerning the current BLMGNF Board is harmful, divisive, and false. It only gives fodder to right-wing media’s clear agenda of sowing distrust and division among Black folks, and it is in deep contrast to abolitionist values and the fight for Black liberation.”
For nearly a decade, Black Lives Matter has been among the most influential and effective political and social movements.
It has pushed the boundaries of what is acceptable to broad swaths of left-leaning voters, urging cities and states to “defund the police” and “end white supremacy.”
What began as a hashtag, inspired by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the lethal shooting of Trayvon Martin, blossomed into international recognition following the unrest over the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.
As cities across the country erupted into violent protests, donations poured into the Black Lives Matter organization. The group was not ready for such a windfall.
After it was revealed that the group took in more than $90 million in 2020, local chapters of BLM, as well as families of victims of police shootings, wanted to know where all the money was going.
Its executive director, Patrisse Cullors, who co-founded the organization, became the subject of intense scrutiny after it was revealed she owned a number of houses, collectively worth more than $3 million.
BLM later disclosed that it had paid nearly $6 million for a home in Los Angeles.
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