Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors railed against a "despicable" report from a liberal magazine that exposed her charity had purchased a $6 million Los Angeles mansion with donor cash.
"Yesterday's article in New York Magazine is a despicable abuse of a platform that's intended to provide truthful information to the public," Cullors said in a statement Tuesday on her Instagram page. "Journalism is supposed to mitigate harm and inform our communities."
Cullors then took aim at the New York Magazine investigative journalist Sean Kevin Campbell, the black man who broke the story, accusing him of pushing a "racist and sexist" attack against the BLM movement by reporting about what her group did with its $90 million charitable windfall from 2020.
"That a reputable publication would allow a reporter, with a proven and very public bias against me and other Black leaders, to write a piece filled with misinformation, innuendo and incendiary opinions, is disheartening and unacceptable," Cullors said.
BLM PURCHASED $6 MILLION LOS ANGELES MANSION WITH DONOR MONEY: REPORT
While BLM Global Network Foundation was under Cullors's control in October 2020, the charity provided donor funds to Dyane Pascall, who has close business ties to Cullors, to purchase a $6 million mansion in cash in the majority-white Los Angeles neighborhood of Studio City.
The purchase came just two weeks after BLM received a $66.5 million cash infusion from its former fiscal sponsor on Oct. 6, 2020.
Six days after Pascall purchased the property, he transferred it to an LLC owned by BLM.
BLM used Pascall and the LLC as middlemen for the property purchase to "avoid exposing BLM's assets to any litigation or liability," BLM board member Shalomyah Bowers told the Washington Examiner.
Cullors said in her statement Tuesday that BLM didn't disclose the property purchase because it "needed repairs and renovation."
However, the real estate listing for the property prior to its sale gives the impression the property was in no need of repairs or renovations.
"Impressively Renovated back to the 1930's with all the Modern Conveniences!" the listing stated, listing amenities such as a "custom wrought iron staircase," bathrooms with "calcatta gold stone" and "carrara marble," three fireplaces, one of which was imported from Italy, and "beautiful custom millwork throughout the luxurious home."
Cullors said in her statement that she does not own the property and has never lived in the property.
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She added that the scrutiny she and BLM are receiving, much of which has been spurred by reporting by the Washington Examiner on the charity's shocking lack of transparency, is "both racist and sexist."
"This is bigger than me. It's about a long history of attacking black people and black women specifically, creating unsafe conditions for us and our families, scrutinizing our every move publicly and privately in ways that are unfair and unjust," she said. "It's dangerous, and we should all be trying to stop it, interrupt it, protest it."
"I have never misappropriated funds, and it pains me so many people have accepted that narrative without the presence of tangible truth or facts," Cullors said.
BLM's mansion was used to film videos for Cullors's personal YouTube, which a watchdog group said may be evidence of an IRS violation.
"It appears that BLMGNF's purchase and use of the house by Cullors and other insiders violate the IRS rule prohibiting the use of nonprofit assets for private benefit as well as self-dealing," Paul Kamenar, an attorney for the watchdog group the National Legal and Policy Center, told the Washington Examiner on Monday.
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Cullors deleted every video uploaded to her personal YouTube channel on Tuesday.