That band of racist grifters known as Black Lives Matter quietly shut down their online fundraising late on Wednesday. It turns out that even liberal California smelled something rotten with the group, and threatened legal action against them. So BLM pulled in their horns.

On Sunday, our Lisa told you how BLM founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors bought lots of pricey real estate over the past year. It looked like some of the money she spent may have come from BLM fundraising, too.

Then, on Monday, the Washington Examiner released its investigation into the shady dealings of BLM in an article called “The Black Lives Matter Scam.” It showed how the group didn’t raise any money when it first formed in 2013. Nor did it raise money for six years after that. It hadn’t even registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a charity.

George Floyd Brought Bucks for Black Lives Matter

Then came the death of George Floyd in 2020, the protests, and the riots. Suddenly BLM found itself awash in millions of dollars from celebrities and major corporations. NFL players also put out this video which drew attention and money to BLM:

At first Black Lives Matter channeled their windfall through the leftwing Thousand Currents and Tides Foundations. At the end of 2020, the IRS approved BLM’s application for nonprofit status, and Thousand Currents transferred $66.5 million to Black Lives Matter. And who signed off on that transaction? None other than Patrisse Cullors.

In February, 2021, Cullors issued BLM’s first “impact report,” claiming that they had raised over $90 million in 2020. She also provided top line numbers for operating expenses and amounts given to local chapters. But these numbers were not fleshed out in detail.

Then Cullors left Black Lives Matter in May, saying she wanted to ‘pursue other projects’ as the usual excuse goes. There were suspicions that she had gone on a real estate purchasing spree, but she adamantly denied the charge. Two activists, Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele, were supposedly in charge of the group, but, as Themba told the Washington Examiner, “We never actually started in the position, so we never received any detailed information.”

Moreover, BLM was supposed to file a Form 990 tax return. As of the end of January, the group hasn’t filed such a return.

California AG Smells a Rat

On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a formal delinquency notice to Black Lives Matter. The letter read:

“The organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s).”

“An organization that is delinquent, suspended or revoked is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds.”

So now BLM has 60 days to clean up their act by filing tax and charity documents for 2020. And if they don’t, they could lose their tax-exempt status and get hit with late fees. Oh, and they can’t use charitable contributions to pay those off, either. As the letter from the AG read:

“Accordingly, directors, trustees, officers and return preparers responsible for failure to timely file the above-described report(s) are personally liable for payment of all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status.”

But who’s in charge of Black Lives Matter? Since Themba and Bandele never took over leadership roles, that left board members Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard as the next in line. However, both have removed online posts that link them to BLM. Suddenly no one wants to be at the helm of Black Lives Matter.

Black Lives Matter Stops Online Fundraising

So now, because of the AG Bonta’s legal action, Black Lives Matter has halted its online fundraising.

If you go over to the BLM website, you won’t find a button for donations like you would on the sites of legit nonprofits. You can purchase BLM merchandise, like T-shirts, hats, and mugs at their “Official Store.” And you can donate to something called the “Black Lives Matter Survival Fund,” which allegedly helps black people “facing economic hardship during the pandemic by giving them cash . . .”

But if you do a search on the site for a place where you can donate to Black Lives Matter as an organization, you don’t find anything. Instead, the page looks like this:

Screenshot: Black Lives Matter website. Click to enlarge.

Nope, there’s no donate button, no pleas for money on the BLM website as of Wednesday evening. Although, on Wednesday morning, a California reporter for the Washington Examiner was able to make a $1 donation online.

Other States Suspicious of BLM

But California isn’t the only state which suspects that Black Lives Matter is a scam. Another liberal state, Washington, sent a notice to BLM ordering it to “immediately cease” all fundraising there. In addition, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Virginia have declared its charity registration to be out of compliance.

As Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said previously about BLM:

“It appears that the house of cards may be falling, and this happens eventually with nearly every scam, scheme, or illegal enterprise. I see patterns that scams kind of universally take: failure to provide board members, failure to provide even executive directors, failure to make your filings available. It all leads to suspicion.”

Good for these states in calling out Black Lives Matter. It’s about time. BLM is nothing more than a group of hustlers who peddle in race in order to line their pockets.

Featured image: Tony Webster/flickr/cropped/CC BY-SA 2.0.