Black Lives Matter Suing Soros-Backed Tides Foundation Over Missing $33M
The national Black Lives Matter movement claims $33.4 million of its cash is being withheld by one of its progressive partner organizations, The Post has learned.
In a scathing lawsuit, Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation accuse the
Tides foundation — backed by George Soros — of alleged “deceptive business practices” as well as “egregious mismanagement” of its money, while demanding its return.
The lawsuit was filed last year, but the stakes were raised on Monday when the BLMGNF — which oversees its other regional operations — asked the California Attorney General to step in and investigate Tides.
Even during the course of the lawsuit, BLMGNF accuses Tides of spending $6 million of their donations, despite promising to freeze any cash belonging to the group during the litigation, according to one of their lawyers.
“My client now has to pay money just to get their own money back, after my client raised 100% of it,” said Lawrence Segal, representing BLMGNF.
Segal claimed the BLM money may even have been used by Tides to fund their defense against them.
Tides Foundation, a fiscal sponsor, has managed donations for groups that have helped organize anti-Israel protests across the country.
BLMGNF began its relationship with Tides soon after it set up its movement in 2013.
Because the fledgling group was not a tax exempt charity at the time, it needed a fiscal sponsor to distribute the money it received from anonymous donors to other organizations, and selected Tides to do so.
Shalomyah Bowers, the board secretary of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, is suing Tides Foundation for “egregious mismanagement” of more than $33 million in the group’s donations.
Things got complicated after huge amounts of money poured in following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, with BLM taking in some $90 million in donations between 2020 and 2022.
However, that was a drop in the ocean to Tides, which oversees more than $1.4 billion in cash from myriad nonprofits, but commingles all funds, the lawsuit claims. That makes it difficult for groups like BLMGNF to monitor where their cash is going, legal papers say.
BLMGNF have also been criticized for how they have handled donations. Out of the $90 million windfall in donations following Floyds’ death, it
only gave out about $30 million for charitable purposes in the next two years.
Another $22 million went on expenses including salaries and investments.
Patrisse Cullors, a cofounder of the group, went on a real estate spending spree,
The Post revealed in April, 2021.
Cullors, who maintained she did not use BLMGNF donations to make the real estate purchases, resigned a month after that story.
Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, resigned a month after The Post revealed in 2021 that she had gone on a real estate buying spree. She maintained that she did not use any cash from the nonprofit.
The national Black Lives Matter movement claims $33.4 million of its cash is being withheld by one of its progressive partner organizations, The Post has learned.
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