Black Lives Matter issued a thinly-veiled apology on Monday night over the left-wing groups purchase of a multi-million dollar mansion that was paid for with donations raised from loyal supporters.
The purchase was fully exposed last week in an article by New York Magazine.
The property was bought for almost $6million in cash in October 2020 with funds that had been donated to BLMGNF (Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation).
On Monday night, the organization finally responded to the reports in a lengthy Twitter feed with the group noting that more ‘transparency’ was required going forward.
Black Lives Matter has apologized following an expose that detailed how the organization had used donations to purchase a $6 million home in Los Angeles. The luxurious 6,500 square foot mansion was bought for nearly double what it was worth
In a lengthy Twitter thread on Monday morning, the group vowed to be more transparent in the future
‘There have been a lot of questions surrounding recent reports about the purchase of Creator’s House in California. Despite past efforts, BLMGNF recognizes that there is more work to do to increase transparency and ensure transitions in leadership are clear,’ it stated.
BLM then proceeded to blame the media for the furore and the ‘inflammatory and speculative’ reports that saw journalists probing the group’s financials saying that it ’caused harm’
The reports ‘do not reflect the totality of the movement,’ the organization claimed.
‘We know narratives like this cause harm to organizers doing brilliant work across the country and these reports do not reflect the totality of the movement,’ one of the tweets reads. ‘We apologize for the distress this has caused to our supporters and those who work in service of Black liberation daily.’
‘We are redoubling our efforts to provide clarity about BLMGNF’s work,’ noting an ‘internal audit’ was underway together with ‘tightening compliance operations and creating a new board to help steer to the organization to its next evolution.’
The organization also criticized the original New Yorker article, pictured above, describing it as ‘inflammatory and speculative’
BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors (above), 38, came under fire last year for a slew of high-profile property purchases. She resigned last year and has called reports investigation the $6 million mansion ‘despicable’ and claimed that criticisms against her are ‘sexist and racist’
The home features six bedrooms and a pool in the back. BLM claimed the home was bought to provide a safe house for ‘black creativity’ but had allegedly tried to hide the home’s existence
The mansion comes complete with a sound stage (pictured) and mini filming studio which the group had used in one of its video campaigns
BLM attempted to justify the purchase of the mansion by saying it was made to encourage ‘Black creativity’ with the property ‘a space for Black folks to share their gifts with the world and hone their crafts as we see it.’
The organization also went on to defend how the funds the group raised were spent including the $3 million used for ‘COVID relief’ and a further $25 million dollars to black-led organizations.
‘We are embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency. We understand the necessity of working intentionally to rebuild trust so we can continue forging a new path that sustains Black people for generations,’ the group wrote.
The barrage of tweets, which notably had their comments turned off, ended with the group announcing they were ’embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency’ and ‘working intentionally to rebuild trust.’
Internal memos from BLM revealed the group wanted to keep the purchase secret, despite filming a video on the home’s patio in May
The Studio City home – which sits on a three-quarter-acre lot – boasts more than half-dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, a ‘butler’s pantry’ in the kitchen (pictured)
Concerns over the groups finances have swirled for years with BLM coming under intense scrutiny in the past.
In February the group stopped online fundraising following a demand by the California attorney general tho show where millions of dollars in donations received in 2020 went.
The group said the ‘shutdown’ was simply short term while any ‘issues related to state fundraising compliance’ were addressed.
Last April, Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of the group came in for closer inspection having bought four houses for $3.2million.
Cullors then stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation demanding people ‘understand the enormous pressure and fear that comes with living under the constant threat of white supremacist terror and real threats on my life.’
Days after this latest episode, Cullors, 38, fired back in a lengthy Instagram post of her own denouncing saying it was both a ‘racist and sexist attack’ on the organization.
‘That fact that a reputable publication would allow a reporter, with a proven and very public bias against me and other Black leaders, to write a piece filled with misinformation, innuendo and incendiary opinions, is disheartening and unacceptable,’ she stated.
Cullors called the report ‘a despicable abuse of a platform that’s intended to provide truthful information to the public.’
Cullors, last Tuesday, hit back at questions over the 2020 purchase of the lavish property
Shawn Bolz (left) said he sold the house for $3.1 million. Dyane Pascall (right), who worked for Cullors’s consultancy, purchased it. Six days later it was sold in cash for $5.8 million to a shell company run by BLMGFN
Dyane Pascall, president of the Councious Captial Investment Enterprise real estate company and a former employ of Cullors, bought the LA property from televangelists Shawn and Cherie Bolz, according to property records, and Shawn Bolz told The New York Post the sale was for $3.1 million.
Yet six days after it was purchased, on October 27, 2020, Pascall transferred the property to Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundations (BLMGNF) for $5.8 million – with BLMGNF paying Pascall in cash, and the purchase registered to a shell company registered several days before.
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The purchase came days after BLMGNF received an injection of $66.5 million in donations that had flooded in from around the globe after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman.
The $2.7 million increase in value in less than a week has not been explained.
It is also at odds with the market rate.
The 1936 mansion is 257.43 percent ‘more expensive’ than similar homes in its Studio City neighborhood, according to realtor.com.
On Thursday, Pascall denied that he paid $3.1 million for the house but told the Post that he couldn’t remember how much it was.
‘No, I did not buy the house for $3.1 million and sell it for $5.8 million. That would be ridiculous,’ he said.
Neither BLMGNF, Cullors nor Pascall have responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation famously grew into one of the largest international movements against racial injustice in mid-2020 but has now come under intense scrutiny over its finances
The organization allegedly hoped to keep the house’s existence a secret – despite three of its former leaders reportedly filming a series of videos dining and drinking champagne outside the estate last spring, New York Magazine reported.
Documents and internal communications reportedly reveal the luxury property was handled in ways that ‘blur boundaries’ between charitable use and those that would benefit some of the organization’s leaders – including Cullors, who shared video in June of her enjoying a ritzy brunch outside the estate with fellow officials Alicia Garza and Melina Abdullah, who have both since left the organization.
When contacted by New York Magazine for comment regarding the property’s existence, officials seemingly attempted to make the story go away.
The magazine said it learned of the estate through a source from within the firm, who had access to the BLM leaders’ internal emails.
Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Melina Abdullah, allegedly laid out $6million to buy a 6500-square foot Southern California mansion (seen in background). Emails show the firm wanted to keep it secret, despite filming a video on its patio in May (pictured) – an incident officials in emails called a ‘hole’ in the story given to New York Magazine
The video, posted in June, shows Cullors (not pictured) enjoying a ritzy brunch outside the estate with fellow officials Alicia Garza and Melina Abdullah, who have both since left the organization
Cullors said in a statement that she never lived in the property, but she did not attempt to explain the price.
Cullors also noted that BLM will release its 990s — forms that tax-exempt nonprofits file to the IRS — very soon.
‘I do not own the property, have never lived there and made that clear to the reporter,’ she said.
‘I want to be clear: While I will always see myself as a part of the BLM community, I am no longer in leadership and I am not a part of any decision-making processes within the foundation.
‘I have never misappropriated funds, and it pains me that so many people have accepted that narrative without the presence of tangible truth or facts.
‘Nevertheless, this will soon be made clear upon the release of the BLM 990s.’
Every organization that has been recognized as tax exempt by the IRS has to file Form 990 every year, unless they make less than $200,000 in revenue and have less than $500,000 in assets.
BLMGFN has never submitted a 990, according to ProPublica’s database, Nonprofit Explorer.
The foundation emerged as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, which itself was begun in 2013.
The foundation’s decision to keep quiet about the house until now, when confronted, is unusual for a supposedly charitable – and tax-exempt – organization such as BLM, and it is one that leaves the organization open to further critique and scrutiny, nonprofit expert Jacob Harold told New York Magazine.
‘That’s a very legitimate critique,’ said Harold, a former CEO of GuideStar and the co-founder of Candid, an information service that reports on nonprofits.
The revelation could negatively affect further donations to the foundation, Harold added, as it continues to face scrutiny over its finances.
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (above), of California, urged the Department of Justice to investigate Black Lives Matter following reports that it used $6 million to buy a mansion in Los Angeles
Last week, a California congressman called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the group over the mansion’s purchase.
Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican, said Thursday that now is the time to look into the group’s finances, which have been heavily scrutinized as little is known of how they’re spending the $90 million on donations raised since the height of the movement in 2020.
Last year the foundation said it had committed $21.7 million to official and unofficial BLM chapters and its expenses were $8.4 million, leaving around $60 million still unexplained.
‘The disturbing information that we are learning is more than enough to warrant an investigation from the DOJ — and doubtless not the end of all there is to know,’ Issa told Fox News.
‘This definitely has the suggestion of misappropriation of charitable funds and an abuse of our nonprofit laws.’
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