Report reveals BLM leaders Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Melina Abdullah used donations to buy $6 million mansion
The Black Lives Matter movement has found itself in more trouble, after an April 2022 report linked donations to a swanky $6M southern California mansion. A new report claims that the three leaders of the movement - Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Melina Abdullah – recorded a YouTube video in 2021 at the mansion they secretly purchased but has only been discovered one year later.
Cullors was forced to resign in May 2021 from the BLM movement over a massive real-estate row. Investigation revealed she spent $3.2M to purchase luxury homes in upscale neighborhoods all over the US. Then in June 2021, it was discovered that a non-profit she was linked to hid over $150K from the IRS. The scandals got worse after Cullors attempted to deflect criticism by calling critics "White Supremacists", which didn't exactly go to plan.
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Cullors may have since faded into obscurity, but the BLM movement lives on, mostly through media investigations into its massive bank balance. Around $60M of funds remain untouched according to reports, but that's accounting for expenses the movement incurred. Among them, it appears there was a $6M 6,500 square-foot property that the trio attempted to hide.
BLM's secret $6m California mansion
The New York Magazine linked BLM to the massive mansion via a June 2021 YouTube video. In the video, Cullors, Garza, and Abdullah are seen chatting about their work, while marking one year of the death of George Floyd. The women speak about attempts to "cancel" them but firmly refuse to acknowledge the setting. NY Mag identified it as a $6M property, that was paid for in cash in October 2020, with money straight from BLM's coffers.
The massive 6,500 square-foot property reportedly has over six bedrooms and bathrooms, several fireplaces, a soundstage, a swimming pool, and parking space for over 20 vehicles. Its exact location was not revealed by the publication, which said it was internally called "Campus". The property was purchased by a man named Dyane Pascall, who is a financial manager for a company operated by Cullors and her spouse. A week after the purchase, ownership was transferred to an LLC in Delaware, so its current owner is not known. However, upkeep for the property has since been linked to several firms with links to BLM's Global Network Foundation.
Documents, email, and communication "suggest that it has been handled in ways that blur, or cross, boundaries between the charity and private companies owned by some of its leaders," the magazine added. Reportedly, the trio has long tried to kill any stories about Campus, and deflect questions about ownership. An internal memo lists talking points like "Campus is part of cultural arm of the org" and plans to use it as an "influencer house".
On April 1, one board member told The New York Magazine that Campus was bought "with the intention for it to serve as housing and studio space for recipients of the Black Joy Creators Fellowship." That notion was later made public, but so far, BLM has not addressed the lack of content produced from the mansion, even though it has been active for 17 months at least. Instead, it appears Campus has served more for the trio's personal benefits.
In April 2021, Cullors uploaded a video to her personal YouTube channel about baking from the home. It is just one of the several that appears to be from Campus. The leaders also stayed overnight at Campus, reportedly when they "didn't feel safe" going back to their own homes. The scandal is just one of the many tied to BLM, but is likely to have little effect as the government has been slow to act and investigate the non-profit.
