BLM sues Soros-backed Tides Foundation for fraud over allegations of withholding $33 million in donations

BLM Global terminated its relationship with Tides in 2022, however, the foundation allegedly failed to return over $33 million in donations to the group, instead allocating some of the money to unaffiliated BLM groups across the country, the New York Post reported.

"Tides has engaged in deceptive business practices and has operated in a quasi-banking capacity without appropriate regulatory oversight of licenses," BLM Global alleged in its lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles.

The group claimed that the non-profit "operates with a level of autonomy and minimal regulatory scrutiny that is starkly at odds with the regulatory framework imposed on traditional financial institutions."

Tides acts as a "fiscal sponsor" mainly for groups that don't have 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. In the wake of George Floyd's death in 2020, BLM Global received tens of millions in donations. Having not yet obtained its tax-exempt status, it turned to Tides to help out.

Tides, according to the lawsuit, verbally agreed that it would return the money when BLM Global became a 501(c)(3). A Tides official said in June 2022 that the foundation had transferred $7.4 million from the collective fund to BLM Global. Some of that money though, $4.75 million, was transferred to an unaffiliated group in Oklahoma City.

"It is unclear why such a large amount would have been granted to a single city’s BLM chapter," the lawsuit stated.

Among those who were granted donations without BLM Global's approval was the radical BLM Grassroots group. Its founder, Melina Abdullah, attempted to sue BLM Global in 2023 to obtain the funds, but the lawsuit was tossed and she was ordered to pay $700,000 in legal fees.

In a statement to the Post, however, a spokesperson for Tides explained that BLM Global's donations "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 non-profit accused BLM Global of seeking to "circumvent the intent of the Fund’s donors and deprive grassroots Black Lives Matter chapters critical resources, for its own benefit."