Oklahoma Black Lives Matter leader indicted for fraud, money laundering

Oklahoma and home – A federal grand jury has indicted the leader. Black Lives Matter movement in Oklahoma City on allegations that millions of dollars in grant funds were improperly spent on international travel, food and personal property, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was indicted earlier this month on 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, court records show.

Court records do not list an attorney for Dickerson, and messages left Thursday at her cellphone number and email were not immediately returned.

According to the indictment, Dickerson held a position since at least 2016 as executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, which accepted charitable donations through its membership in the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice.

In total, BLM OKC has raised more than $5.6 million since 2020, mostly from online donors and national bail funds, to be used to post bail for individuals arrested in connection with racial justice protests after murder of George Floyd in 2020 by a Minnesota police officer, the indictment alleges.

When those bail funds were returned to BLM OKC, the indictment alleges, Dickerson embezzled at least $3.15 million from her personal accounts and then used the money to pay for trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, retail purchases, at least $50,000 in food and grocery deliveries for herself and her children, a personal vehicle and six properties in Oklahoma City assigned to her or a company she controlled.

The indictment also alleges that she submitted false annual reports to the alliance that claimed the funds were used only for tax-exempt purposes.

If convicted, Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each count of wire fraud, and 10 years in prison and fines on each count of money laundering.

In a live video posted to her Facebook page Thursday afternoon, Dickerson said she was not in custody and was “fine.”

“I cannot officially comment on what happened today,” she said. “I'm home. I'm safe. I'm confident in our team.”

“A lot of times people come to you with things like this… it shows that you're doing your job,” she continued. “This is where I stand.”

The Black Lives Matter movement first emerged in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who killed a 17-year-old. Trayvon Martin in Florida. But this was 2014. death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, making “Black Lives Matter” a rallying cry for progressives and a favorite target of ridicule for conservatives.

Associated Press reported in October that the Justice Department is investigating whether leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who gave tens of millions of dollars during the 2020 racial justice protests. There was no immediate indication that Dickerson's charges were related to this investigation.