Black Lives Matter’s leadership is divided over $10 million donation theft
The founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Shalomyah Bowers, has been charged with stealing over $10 million in donations for personal use.
According to a lawsuit Black Lives Matter Grassroots has brought against the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, this is the case.
The dispute with Mr. Bowers is referred to in the lawsuit as “a case of a rogue administrator, a middleman, turned usurper, who was hired to collect donations and account for expenditures of Black Lives Matter movement, formally operating as Black Lives Matter Grassroots, Inc. (“BLM”)” in the Los Angeles County Superior – Central District.
Bowers is accused of “betraying the public trust by self-dealing and breaching his fiduciary duties,” according to the lawsuit made by Los Angeles attorney Walter Mosley, who claims that Mr. Bowers used Black Lives Matter, or BLM, as his “personal piggy bank.”
According to the complaint, Mr. Bowers has taken over the finance and social media accounts of Black Lives Matter, blocking its founders and most well-known organizers, including Melina Abdullah.
Mr. Bowers works as the board secretary of the non-profit organization that operates as the movement’s administrative branch, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.
“Black Lives Matter at the grassroots level. Many of the same activists that founded us in 2013 are still working with us now. stated Ms. Abdullah. We are asking for the resources that legitimately belong to the people and the movement to be returned today.
Additionally, BLM Grassroots claims that Mr. Bowers and the Global Network Foundation violated California Business & Professional Code Section 17200 by engaging in dishonest business practices, fraud, conversion, and willful misrepresentation.
The Global Network Foundation denied the allegations made by Ms. Abdullah, claiming that Ms. Abdullah’s board had requested “private mediation or discussions with Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots, including and about social media standards” from the organization.
The organization claims that every request it made was denied.
The mission of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) is to spread awareness and promote Black liberation. Be clear: Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots (BLMGR) are untrue in their accusations. They are false and slanderous, the organization claimed in a statement.
