It is unclear who leads the Black Lives Matter foundation and manages its $60 million bankroll, according to an investigation by the Washington Examiner.
The inquiry comes almost six months after BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned as executive director to focus on other projects and appointed two activists to serve as the group's senior directors — although neither Makani Themba nor Monifa Bandele took the jobs due to disagreements with the foundation, according to the Examiner.
Themba and Bandele say they don't know who leads the organization.
''We never actually started in the position, so we never received any detailed information,'' Themba said.
BLM board members Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard, the two remaining BLM board members, did not return the Examiner's request for further information about the hierarchy. In addition, after the Examiner contacted Howard for comment, he changed his LinkedIn profile to read that he serves as director of operations for a ''Non Profit.''
A reference to his position as finance and operations partner at New Impact Partners, a consulting firm owned by his sister, was also removed from his LinkedIn profile, according to the report.
BLM is ''like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction,'' CharityWatch Executive Director Laurie Styron told the news outlet.
''This is grossly irregular and improper for a nonprofit with $60 million in its coffers,'' said Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group.
The IRS granted BLM tax-exempt status in December 2020. For that reason, the organization should be subjected to a ''full audit,'' Kamenar said.
''Bottom line: Lot of questionable financial activity, organizational structure, location of the books, etc. that call for a full investigation,'' he told the Examiner.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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