Shalomyah Bowers, leader of the Black Lives Matter movement, was denounced by 26 activists from the group last Thursday (1) in the Superior Court of Los Angeles, United States.
The leader would have embezzled 10 million dollars (more than 51 million reais at the current price) of donations to build his cabinet, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The organization’s board of directors denied that Bowers committed the crime. In a press release, he lamented that “white supremacy is the big winner” of this internal war.
Bowers was hired in 2020. That year, the charity received over $90 million in donations following the murder of George Floyd.
“While the movement’s leaders and workers were on the streets risking their lives, Mr. Bowers remained in his comfortable offices plotting a fraud and misrepresentation scheme to break the implied contract between donors and the BLM,” the whistleblowers allege.
In an interview with the New York Post, Bowers says the complaint was made by people from the movement who wanted to be in his position.
Movement co-founder Patrisse Cullors has also been involved in allegations of misappropriation of donations. Between 2016 and 2021, she bought four houses for a value of almost 3 million dollars. These real estate purchases fueled speculation about a possible misappropriation of funds for her personal enrichment.
To the Los Angeles Times, Cullors responded that her money came from book releases and production contracts. Black Lives Matter, in a statement, said she had not received any money from the organization since 2019 and, from 2013 to 2019, she would have only earned $120,000 for her work as a spokesperson for the movement and other political education projects.
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