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A federal grand jury indicted the leader black lives matter movement in Ololama City Prosecutors announced Thursday charges that millions of dollars in grant money were improperly spent on international trips, groceries and personal real estate.
Court records show Tashella Sherry Amore Dickerson, 52, was convicted earlier this month of 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering.
court records Dickerson’s attorney would not be named, and messages left at his mobile number and email Thursday were not immediately returned.
According to the indictment, Dickerson served since at least 2016 as the executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, which accepted charitable donations through its affiliation with the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice.
The indictment alleges that in total, BLM OKC raised more than $5.6 million by 2020, primarily from online donors and the National Bail Fund, to be used to post bail for individuals arrested in connection with racial justice protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer.
When those bail funds were returned to BLM OKC, the indictment alleges that Dickerson embezzled at least $3.15 million into his personal accounts and then used that money to pay for trips to and from Jamaica. Dominican RepublicAt least $50,000 in retail purchases, food and grocery deliveries for her and her children, a personal vehicle, and six properties in Oklahoma City were turned over to her or a company she controlled.
The indictment also alleges that he submitted false annual reports to the coalition stating that the funds were used only for tax-exempt purposes.
If convicted, Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of wire fraud and 10 years in prison and a fine for each count of money laundering.
In a live video posted to her Facebook page Thursday afternoon, Dickerson said she was not in custody and was “fine.”
“I can’t make any official comments about what happened today,” she said. “I’m home. I’m safe. I trust my team.”
He added, “Sometimes when people come to you with things like this…it’s proof that you’re working.” “That’s what I stand by.”
The Black Lives Matter movement first emerged after the acquittal in 2013 george zimmermanThe neighborhood watch volunteer who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. But it was the death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 that made the slogan “Black Lives Matter” a rallying cry for progressives and a favorite target of ridicule for conservatives.
The Associated Press reported in October that the Justice Department was investigating whether leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who contributed millions of dollars during racial justice protests in 2020. There was no immediate indication that Dickerson’s indictment was connected to that investigation.