Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has run into another financial scandal, this time with a non-profit group she founded in 2013 called Dignity and Power Now in Los Angeles, California. The group’s donation disclosure report was missing hundreds of thousands of dollars in reported donations that year.
Fox News reported that in a 2016 donation disclosure report to California, Dignity and Power Now reported $50,000 in donations when it took in at least $225,000 that year. The group’s mission, according to its website, is to assist black and minority prisoners and Cullors is listed as the group’s chief founder.
The LA-based Resnick Foundation donated $100,000 to Dignity and Power Now, while a group called the California Initiative donated $125,000 to the group. However, these donations were not disclosed by the group to the office of the California attorney general, which office regulates state charities.
Upon further investigation, Dignity and Power Now proudly claims it can end “sheriff violence in the LA County jails” by gaining civilian oversight over Los Angeles County’s sheriff’s department. The group also calls for a moratorium on building two new prisons in the county “to fully realize the promise of diversion and re-entry through a justice reinvestment strategy.” The website also features an anti-police quote from Cullors, which reads, “Defund the police so that we can lead with love.”
In short, the group wants to defund the county’s law enforcement officers to divert funds towards releasing criminals back into the community.
Cullors, whose official name is Patrisse Cullors-Khan, was embroiled in another financial scandal this year after a multi-luxury home buying spree across the country. This past May, she resigned from the Black Lives Matter national organization when news broke that she bought four luxury homes for $3.2 million. A self-proclaimed “trained Marxist,” Cullors said that she had not received any compensation from Black Lives Matter, which the organization affirmed. The group also said that Cullors was paid $120,000 between 2013 and 2019 as compensation. Cullors denied charges of corruption and misuse of nonprofit funds and said that her income came from a deal with movie studio Warner Brothers and book sales.