The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has filed a lawsuit against a non-profit organization for withholding millions in donations and funding anti-Israel protests on college campuses.
The bombshell lawsuit by BLMGNF accuses the Tides Foundation of fraud, alleging in a 285-page lawsuit filed in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, on Monday, that the progressive group “refused to honor its promises and continues to commandeer BLMGNF’s donations.”
“BLMGNF – which was founded in 2017 as the national organization of the civil rights movement – gained millions in donations following the death of George Floyd in 2020. The organization put the money raised in the hands of Tides because they did not have tax-exempt status from the IRS,” Daily Mail explained in a report. “Tides verbally assured the BLM activist network that the donations would be returned when the organization received tax-exempt status. The organization takes a percentage of all donation to manage a group’s funds, according to the lawsuit.”
The Los Angeles and San Francisco-based nonprofit manages the donations for pro-Palestine activists who have been demonstrating across the country. The lawsuit alleges that Tides distributed an undisclosed amount of donations to a radical BLM breakaway group that was run by anti-police activist Melina Abdullah.
According to the lawsuit, Tides has refused to hand over $33 million to BLMGNF which ended their partnership in 2022.
‘It is unclear why such a large amount would have been granted to a single city’s BLM chapter,’ the lawsuit said.
Tides claims the allegations are “completely false” and responded in a statement.
“Resources in the Black Lives Matter [collective action fund] were never intended to be granted to large, well-funded national organizations like Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, and were always intended to be granted to local Black Lives Matter chapters,” the organization said.
“BLMGNF’s lawsuit seeks to circumvent the intent of the Fund’s donors and deprive grassroots Black Lives Matter chapters critical resources, for its own benefit.” the statement added.
Daily Mail noted that “George Soros and his son Alex Soros have donated nearly $14 million from their Open Air Society Foundations to Tides – which also sponsors activist group such as the pro-Palestinian Adalah Justice Project as well as other organizations backing the wave of college campus protests.”
“Tides has engaged in deceptive business practices and has operated in a quasi-banking capacity without appropriate regulatory oversight of licenses,” the lawsuit says. “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.”
“This lawsuit against the Tides Foundation is not just about financial discrepancies but the principle of rightful ownership and transparency that should govern partnerships in social justice funding,” attorney Byron McLain said on Wednesday.
BLMGNF told the New York Post that it “never expected to become victims of … unscrupulous business practices.”
“There is an expectation for Black Lives Matter to challenge systems, break barriers and uphold the truth, no matter how uncomfortable,” the group said in a statement. “Today, that extends into non-profit operations as we call out Tides Foundation and other so-called ‘fiscal sponsors’ who exploit their role.”
