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On Thursday, Shalomyah Bowers, a prominent executive at the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, was accused of stealing approximately $10 million in funds from donations to the cause.
According to the New York Post, Shalomyah Bowers was appointed as the head of the BLM Global Network Foundation in April. Figures within the organization have alleged that he misappropriated funds from Black Lives Matter Grassroots, a new branch of the movement that began only 3 months ago.
Activists claim that Shalomyah Bowers siphoned funds at will, allegedly redirecting them to his company, Bowers Consulting Firm. Bowers has repeatedly denied the charges.
BLM Grassroots has filed a lawsuit against Shalomyah Bowers
According to CNN, Shalomyah Bowers joined the BLM Global Network Foundation 3 years ago. The BLM Grassroots has accused Bowers of stealing money from the organization since 2020, when the activist group received $90 million in donations during the George Floyd protests.
The new group was founded in California in May by Walter Mosley, a lawyer. According to reports, Mosley drafted the lawsuit against Bowers, his consulting firm, the BLM Global Network Foundation, and unnamed individuals.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, summed up the accusations against Bowers.
It read:
“Mr. Bowers decided he could not let go of his personal piggy bank. Instead, he continued to betray the public trust by self-dealing and breaching his fiduciary duties.”
It continued:
“Instead of using the donations for its intended purposes, Mr. Bowers diverted these donations to his own coffers and intentionally took calculated steps to prevent those same resources from being used by BLM for on-the-ground-movement work.”
Fox reported that the suit accused Bowers of profiteering from the hard work of ground-level protestors, who engaged in several protests, some of which turned deadly. It read:
“While BLM leaders and movement workers were on the street risking their lives, Mr. Bowers remained in his cushy offices devising a scheme of fraud and misrepresentation to break the implied-in-fact contract between donors and BLM.”
Bowers, on the other hand, has denied the charges made against him. He claimed that the accusations were being leveled at him because someone wanted to take his leadership position.
He told the Post:
“It’s a power move by someone hellbent on achieving power and control.”
He told reporters that recent audits show no evidence that he misappropriated funds. He said:
“It’s the most insane thing I’ve read in a court pleading, and it’s signed under penalty of perjury when they know it’s a lie.”
Fox reported that Bowers was supposedly a close associate of BLM founder Patrisse Cullors, who was accused of misappropriating the organization's funds in 2021 and using them to invest roughly $14 million in real estate across Los Angeles and Toronto.
