A prominent leader in the Black Lives Matter movement has been accused of stealing more than $10 million from the group in an explosive lawsuit filed by other organizers in the movement.
Shalomyah Bowers, a board member of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF), was accused of using the group as a ‘personal piggy bank’ in the suit filed in Thursday in Los Angeles.
The lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter Grassroots (BLMGR) offers few specifics about the alleged theft of funds, but illuminates the growing fractures in the movement that took in more than $90 million in donations in 2020.
n a lengthy statement, the BLMGFN board furiously denounced the allegations as ‘harmful, divisive, and false’ and accused BLMGR leaders of lining their own pockets with ‘$10,000 monthly stipends’ rather than supporting local groups and families.
BLMGFN is the national fundraising arm of the movement, distributing money to local groups through BLMGR, which operates as an umbrella group for many chapters.
Each side in the dispute is accusing the other of damaging the BLM movement and acting as a tool of white supremacy.
BLMGNF has been under financial scrutiny some time, and disclosures in May revealed that the group had splashed out $6 million for a Los Angeles mansion and $6.3 million on another 10,000-square-foot property in Toronto.
