BLM’s mostly peaceful scam operation finally came under federal scrutiny after years of independent reporting
Lavish spending by Black Lives Matter (BLM) donors was reported years before Thursday’s announcement of a federal investigation into widespread potential fraud.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in June 2020 that the BLM Global Network (BLMGN) spent millions of dollars on consultants, travel and staff compensation over three years. After nationwide anti-police riots made BLM a household name, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is restarting an investigation into whether the BLM Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) defrauded donors, the Associated Press reported Thursday. (RELATED: BLM Activist Pleads Guilty in Case Involving Theft of Taxpayer Money Meant to Help Low-Income Families)
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (left) speaks as Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell watches a news conference announcing an arrest in the Palisades fire investigation October 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The federal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California in Los Angeles began during the Biden administration, but now has new life under the presidency of Donald Trump and top Trump-appointed prosecutor Bill Essayli, according to the AP.
Essayli’s office did not respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
BLMGNF leaders, who had previously denied any wrongdoing, reportedly received subpoenas as part of the investigation. “The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is not the target of any federal criminal investigation,” the group told DCNF. “We remain committed to full transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of resources dedicated to building a better future for Black communities. »
The DOJ can investigate suspected fraud on a civil or criminal level, although the legal framework for the reported BLM investigation is unclear.
Many mainstream media outlets ignored allegations of financial mismanagement against BLM in 2020, when the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody reignited the group’s anti-cop agenda. Neglected news that year included ten BLM chapters accusing the BLMGN of failing to support them financially while enriching its own leadership.
That same year, the FBI arrested Greater Atlanta leader Sir Maejor Page’s BLM in September on charges of using $200,000 in donations for personal expenses, the DCNF previously reported. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison in October 2024 for wire fraud and money laundering.
Years of financial scandals followed Page’s arrest, with the BLMGNF announcing in May 2021 that co-founder Patrisse Cullors was stepping down from the organization after the DCNF revealed her payment of $238,000 in services to a company run by the father of her child. The funding has raised legal and ethical concerns about personal dealings within BLM, charity experts told DCNF.
The BLMGNF also shut down its website’s fundraising features in February 2022 after California and Washington state threatened legal action over missing financial records. Two months later, New York Magazine revealed that the BLMGNF had spent $6 million of its budget on a mansion without disclosing the purchase. BLM officials later faced a fraud lawsuit over the mansion, and although a California judge threw it out in 2023, the purchase continues to fuel suspicions that the BLM movement effectively ripped off its supporters.
Additionally, several companies owned by BLM executives or their family members received lucrative contracts totaling millions of dollars from the BLMGNF between July 2022 and June 2023, the DCNF previously reported. These expenses further alarmed experts who questioned whether the foundation was honoring its obligations as a charity.
Five years after the summer of 2020 brought BLM into the spotlight, a May 2025 poll showed that most Americans believed the country’s “increased focus on race” had achieved nothing meaningful for Black people, the DCNF reported. Essayli also criticized BLM in 2020, calling it “anti-police” and “anti-American.”
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