The leaders of the Black Lives Matter
(BLM) organization will be held “personally liable” if they do not disclose information concerning the charity’s $60 million in donations.According to the Daily Mail, the group’s leaders have 60 days to release the information to the California Department of Justice, which alleged the charity has yet to submit its annual financial reports. The state DoJ also requested a copy of BLM’s annual registration renewal fee report and its 2020 IRS tax forms in a letter it sent to the organization.
If BLM doesn’t comply, its charity exemption will be revoked. It could also face monthly financial penalties for being delinquent.
The DoJ letter, obtained by the Washington Examiner, states “directors, trustees, officers and return preparers’ would be ‘personally liable’ for ‘all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.’
The letter adds “charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs.”
The letter comes days after it was revealed the BLM organization has not had someone in charge of its finances since co-founder Patrisse Cullors left the organization last May. Additionally, it was revealed $6.3 million was transferred from the group to Cullors spouse, Janaya Khan
and several Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in 2001.It’s still unclear who has been running BLM’s finances since Cullors resigned. In fact, all three BLM founders, Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi have all left the organization.
California isn’t the only state looking at the organization either. Washington state has ordered BLM to cease fundraising in the state due to its lack of transparency. The National Legal and Policy Center
“The National Legal and Policy Center will be filing a formal complaint with the Attorneys General of Washington and California to impose the maximum penalties on BLM for their flagrant and repeated violations of the charity disclosure laws in those states and it seems in many others,” attorney Paul Kamenar told the Examiner.