The Black Lives Matter foundation has $42 million in net assets, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The foundation's cofounder, self-proclaimed Marxist Patrisse Cullors, used the foundation's money to pay millions of dollars to family members, friends, and the father of her child.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in a 990 tax disclosure obtained by the AP reported that it "invested $32 million in stocks from the $90 million it received as donations" thanks to the 2020 race protests. It ended its last fiscal year with $42 million in net assets and has an operating budget of about $4 million.
Under Cullors's direction, BLM paid out nearly $970,000 to a company owned by Damon Turner, who has a child with Cullors; more than $840,000 to a security firm run by Cullors's brother; and more than $2.1 million to a consulting firm owned by close Cullors associate Shalomyah Bowers. Cullors admitted the foundation employed her mother and sister as well as her brother.
Cullors this year said just hearing about the 990 disclosure, which all nonprofits are required to fill out, is "triggering." She said the form is "being literally weaponized against us" and made her feel "deeply unsafe."
The tax filing, which covers the span from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, lists Cullors as the board's sole voting director and notes that she held no board meetings. Cullors resigned last year amid criticisms of her massive spending sprees, including her purchase of four homes for $3.2 million.
The attorneys general of Indiana and Ohio are already investigating the foundation's finances, including its use of donor money to buy a $6 million Los Angeles mansion.