Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is suing the Tides Foundation, a progressive nonprofit, for $33 million.
Apparently, Tides - a Los Angeles-San Francisco-based nonprofit - has been dishing out cash to anti-Israel protest groups on campuses, but they're getting called out for some other shady business.
The lawsuit, which is a whopping 285 pages, alleges that Tides held onto over $33 million in donations meant for the radical BLM breakaway group run by anti-police activist Melina Abdullah and is accused of straight-up fraud.
Why is there always fraud wherever and whenever BLM is involved?
The lawsuit was filed on Monday at the California Superior Court, Los Angeles County.
Tides plays the role of a fiscal sponsor. Basically, they're like a middleman, collecting donations for groups that might not have that tax-exempt status. They're like a financial hub for these groups and are supposed to make sure the money flows where it needs to go.
On top of handling donations for BLMGNF and other BLM chapters, Tides also looks after funds for pro-Palestinian groups. These groups have been backing up anti-Israel protests all over the place, and Tides is right in the mix, managing their donations too.
Infamous billionaires George Soros and his son Alex have pumped almost $14 million from their Open Society Foundations into Tides. Tides then uses this money to back activist groups like the pro-Palestinian Adalah Justice Project and others that are stirring up protests on college campuses.
According to the lawsuit, Tides has over $1.4 billion in assets and supposedly operates like a bank, except it's not held to banking regulations.
Tides has engaged in deceptive business practices and has operated in a quasi-banking capacity without appropriate regulatory oversight of licenses.
Tides operates with a level of autonomy and minimal regulatory scrutiny that is starkly at odds with the regulatory framework imposed on traditional financial institutions.
BLMGNF racked in tens of millions in donations after the death of George Floyd in 2020. At that point, the group didn't have tax-exempt status from the IRS, so they turned to the Tides Foundation for assistance in handling the influx of funds.
According to the lawsuit, Tides, which pockets a percentage of donations to manage a group's finances, allegedly promised to return the collected money once BLMGNF gained tax-exempt status. During this period, Tides managed donations in a "collective action fund" meant for BLMGNF's use.
However, BLMGNF cut ties with Tides in 2022, and despite demands, Tides has refused to release the funds, totaling around $33 million, the lawsuit alleges.
Moreover, Tides, known to take between 3% and 9% of processed donations, reportedly diverted some of the funds to other BLM chapters without BLMGNF's consent.
In a communication on June 9, 2022, a Tides representative claimed to have transferred $7.4 million back to BLMGNF from the collective fund.
However, instead of returning the entire amount, the lawsuit contends that $4.75 million was sent to an unrelated BLM chapter in Oklahoma City.
It is unclear why such a large amount would have been granted to a single city's BLM chapter.
Of course, the Tides Foundation called these allegations "completely false."
We all already know that BLM has had its own fair share of financial issues (aka fraud).
In 2021, the group's co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, went on a multimillion-dollar spree of home purchases. Among these acquisitions was a $6 million mansion in Los Angeles intended as an office for BLMGNF and another $6 million property in Toronto for the group's Canadian chapter.
Although she insisted she didn't use donation funds to purchase these lavish properties, just a month later, in May 2021, Cullors resigned from her position at BLM.
TL;DR: Soros' funded Tides Foundation allegedly kept money that was supposed to go to BLM and BLM is suing to get it back.
You know what I have to say about that ...
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