During the height of the protests around the murder of George Floyd, when donations topping $90 million were pouring in, the group that runs Black Lives Matter was closing a cash deal on a $6 million property, New York magazine exclusively reports. The 6,500-square-foot home has “more than half a dozen bedrooms and bathrooms, several fireplaces, a soundstage, a pool and bungalow, and parking for more than 20 cars,” the magazine says, quoting a real estate notice for the property. When questioned, the BLM leadership told the magazine they had “always planned” to disclose the purchase and that no one lives there full time. It was intended as a creative space, despite what the magazine discloses has produced “relatively little content” on the property. The expenditure could now call into question the group’s tax-free status, even though it was purchased two months before the organization was officially awarded the status by the IRS. Either way, New York questions the secrecy of the matter. “It creates the impression that money donated to the cause of racial justice has been spent in ways that benefit the leaders of Black Lives Matter personally,” the author writes.
