Black Lives Matter (BLM) filed its first Form 990, which is required annually by non-profits to maintain tax-exempt status, and it showed BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors paid substantial payouts to her friends and family..Surprising revelations came from the 63-page document, including Cullors paying her brother Paul Cullors $840,000 for security services, a fellow director Shalomyah Bowers $2.1 million for consulting, and her baby daddy Damon Turner $970,000 for creative services and help producing live events..BLM leaders said their security could not be done by traditional security firms because they comprise former police professionals and the BLM movement is “known for vehemently protesting law enforcement organizations.”.BLM compensated Bowers consulting firm more than $2.1 million for “providing the organization with operational support, including staffing, fundraising and other key services.”.Bower is BLM’s board secretary and formerly served as the deputy executive director. .Cullors had to pay back $73,523 for charter flights, which she took “out of concern for COVID-19 and security threats.”.Two state attorney generals have started probes into BLM finances given the controversies following the organization..BLM board members said they are “cooperating with civil investigations in Indiana and Ohio, and they have turned over relevant documents to those authorities.”.Cullors resigned from BLM in 2021 because of controversy about the charity’s finances, including purchases considered “personal.”.Cullors defends purchasing a $6 million dollar Los Angeles home as “legitimate.”.After resigning from BLM, Cullors received a $120,000 payment for “consulting fees” according to the financial documents. .Cullors has admitted that she hired her sister, mother, and brother to work in the BLM organization..During the last fiscal year reported in the documents, Cullors was BLM’s sole voting director on the board and there were no board meetings..Cullors incorporated BLM in Delaware, where a board can have one voting member, but it shows that Cullors alone controlled who to hire and how to spend the $90 million in donations raised during that time period..Bowers, BLM’s board secretary, defended his consulting firm receiving most of the money spent on consulting and there was no conflict of interest because BLM awarded the contract before he joined the board..“Our firm stepped in when Black Lives Matter had no structure and no staff. We filled the gap when nothing else existed. But let me be crystal clear, there was no conflict of interest,” said Bowers..Bowers defended the findings of the Form 990 and state investigations into BLM..“This 990 reveals that BLM is the largest black abolitionist nonprofit organization that has ever existed in the nation’s history. What we’re doing has never been done before,” said Bowers..“We needed to get dollars out to grassroots organizations doing the work of abolition, doing the work that would shift the moral tide of this world towards one that does not have or believe in police, prisons, jails or violence.”.This is the first time BLM gave a public accounting of its finances since beginning in 2017 and only covers the time up to June 30, 2021.
