The Justice Department is investigating whether Black Lives Matter (BLM) defrauded donors who sent millions of dollars to the organization during racial justice protests in 2020, the Associated Press reports. reporting.
Federal law enforcement authorities have issued subpoenas and search warrants as part of an investigation into the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc., which helped spark protests in U.S. cities following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, anonymous sources told the agency.
Protests in some places have resulted in deaths, riots, looting, fires and widespread destruction of property.
According to AP:
It is unclear whether the investigation will lead to criminal charges, but its very existence casts a new spotlight on a movement that has faced criticism in recent years over its public accounting of donations it has received. The recent surge in investigative activity also comes as civil rights groups express concerns that the Trump administration could target various progressive and left-wing groups that have criticized him, including those associated with BLM, the transgender rights movement and anti-ICE protesters.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the report released Thursday.
The investigation actually began under the Biden administration and received new attention under the Trump administration, one of the AP's sources said.
The BLM Foundation said it has received more than $90 million in donations following the widely publicized death of Floyd, who was seen in a viral video struggling to breathe under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer who was later convicted of murder.
Critics have accused the nonprofit of not disclosing how it spends its donations. Criticism intensified in 2022 when it was revealed that part of the funds had gone toward a $6 million home in Los Angeles with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a pool and other amenities.
Like Breitbart news reported at the time, co-founder Patrisse Cullors admitted to using the group's $6 million property to host private parties. The BLM leader later resigned in 2023.
The AP reports that no previous investigations into the nonprofit's finances have found evidence of wrongdoing. The agency's latest federal form shows the BLM foundation had $28 million in assets for the fiscal year ending June 2024.
The current investigation is reportedly being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.
In a statement to the AP on Thursday, the foundation said it was “not the subject of any federal criminal investigation.”
“We remain committed to full transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of resources intended to build a better future for Black communities,” the foundation told the news agency.
The Black Lives Matter slogan first emerged in 2013 following the acquittal of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in what was legally considered a “stand your ground” case.
It was the death the following year of Michael Brown, who was shot while arraigning a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, that made “Black Lives Matter” a national, and later worldwide, cry for left-wing social justice.
Co-author Lowell Coffiel is a bestselling Los Angeles crime fiction author. Below the line and nine other crime and non-fiction novels. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
