A California judge recently dismissed a $10 million fraud lawsuit filed by Black Lives Matter grassroots activists against the BLM Foundation and its leader.
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According to several reports, last year, Melina Abdullah and her breakaway civil rights group, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, Inc., accused Shalomyah Bowers and his national Black Lives Matters Global Network Foundation, Inc. (BLMGNF) of receiving donations from the work of the city-based BLM chapter, then defrauding the public, leaving activists out of the decision-making process.
Meanwhile, it is noted that Abdullah was once a part of the larger organization, but then left and formed her own BLM non-profit, just months before she filed her fraud lawsuit in September 2022. Also to be noted is that Bowers and his firm, Bowers Consulting, was brought in to the world of BLMGNF via BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, before she resigned as head of the organization in May 2021.
Cullors left after several claims were made against her purchasing millions of dollars’ worth of properties in Los Angeles, California and Atlanta, Georgia, using BLM donations. She has continued to maintain her innocence since the start of the accusations, and even told Hollywood Unlocked founder Jason Lee that the claims against her were all false, and that she had the receipts to show for everything. After the interview, she even had us wondering, “Did Black Lives Matter fail Patrisse Cullors?”
In the $10 million fraud lawsuit, Abdullah claimed that her breakaway group, which is made up of two dozen BLM chapters across the nation, was owed $10 million from the BLMGNF. According to federal filings, the BLMGNF raked in $90 million in donations over the last few years; however, in 2022, they reportedly only recorded a $9 million deficit.
Additionally, according to BLMGNF’s latest financial filings from 2022, it is revealed that Bowers’ national BLM group received $1.69 million in donations for “management and consulting services.” Plus, it is shown that the group spent more than $14 million on mansions in Toronto, Canada and Los Angeles, California, USA.
Since Abdullah’s fraud lawsuit filed last year, a California judge has now struck down her case and tossed it out the court late last week.
On Thursday (June 29), Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick ruled that Abdullah and her legal team failed to prove their case of: 1) the local BLM activists being entitled to the raised funds; and 2) the BLM foundation’s leaders siphoning off millions of dollars for nefarious purposes, etc.
Speaking on the decision, BLMGNF attorney Byron McLain told The New York Post, “The judge determined that Melina Abdullah and BLM Grassroots failed to establish that they were entitled to any donated funds.”
Bowers’ attorney also called Abdullah’s claims a personal attack on the BLM foundation leader and that it’s all a part of a money grab. McLain added, “Melina Abdullah and her colleagues spent over a year tearing down Shalomyah’s name, reputation and character in an ill-fated ego-driven attempt to seize control of one of the most prominent charitable organizations supporting black empowerment.”
Meanwhile, Abdullah and her team were left “stunned and dismayed” by the verdict and are planning to appeal the California judge’s decision of having the lawsuit dismissed.
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