© GoogleThe Victorian red brick mansion, which was previously home to the Communist Party, was bought by BLM over the summer and is being turned in to the Wildseed arts center
News of the transfer of money to the Canadian group has raised further questions about transparency and accountability within Black Lives Matter - coming days after auditors said an inquiry into the handling of BLM's $60 million war chest was necessary, and less than a year after Cullors was forced to stand down amid questions about her own property empire.
BLM Canada announced in July 2021 that they had recently purchased a three story Victorian mansion in the Baldwin Village area of Toronto, close to downtown. The imposing red brick house was previously the headquarters of the Communist Party.
© osopepatrisse/Instagram; janayathefuture/InstagramPatrisse Cullors, co-founder of BLM (left) is married to Janaya Khan (right), a Canadian activist. Khan was reportedly transferred the cash from BLM to buy the Toronto mansion used to house an arts center
Khan is the spouse of BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors.
Khan, born in Toronto, is described on a speakers' website as 'a black, queer, gender-nonconforming activist (pronouns: they, them, theirs), staunch Afrofuturist and social-justice educator who presents an enlightening point of view on police brutality and systemic racism.'
Khan and Cullors married in 2016, and have two children.
Cullors stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network in May 2021, amid scrutiny of her $3.2 million property empire.
It was unclear whether the money was transferred from BLMGN to M4BJ before or after Cullors stepped down, and why the money went to M4BJ rather than directly to BLM's Canada affiliate. Neither BLM Canada nor Khan have responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
The property, at 24 Cecil Street, is home to the Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism.
Khan is not listed among the executive team or staff of the site.
Wildseed describes itself as 'a vessel that seeks to nurture Black radical creation in Canada.'
The website states:
'Wildseed was birthed by Black Lives Matter activists who recognized the need to build an enduring space that could cultivate the most radical ideas from Toronto's diverse Black communities.The city of Toronto has provided the Wildseed Centre with $250,000 CAN ($195,000) for capital upgrades, said Councillor Mike Layton, who represents the district in which the mansion sits.
'Through opportunities for space booking, collaborations and art fellowships, our hope is that Wildseed will be the kind of space that our hope is that it will be the kind of space that we wished we had when we began the agitations that so fundamentally shifted this city.'
Sandy Hudson, the co-founder of BLM Canada, told CBC News in the summer that the center was vital for their work.
'Having a space like this that has a level of permanence, that is large, that allows for different types of organizations to come together and create community. It's going to be a really, really big shift for Black Canada and Black Toronto,' she said.
Yet the news of the financing for the center comes at a difficult time for BLM.
Last week, charity auditors expressed alarm at the management of Black Lives Matter's $60 million in donations, after it emerged that people announced as leading the organization never took up the role, and no one seemed able to say who was handling the finances.
The most recent tax filing for the charity, from 2019, gives an address in Los Angeles that does not exist, and the two remaining BLM directors identified by The Washington Examiner were not able to assist - with one even scrubbing BLM associations from his social media after he was contacted by the paper.
They are yet to file a 2020 return, a Form 990, as required - which could see BLM fined by the IRS. Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch, said the findings were deeply troubling, and said they should have filed their 2020 form by now.
'Like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction,' she said.
Paul Kamenar, counsel for conservative watchdog group the National Legal and Policy Center, told the paper a full audit was needed, describing the situation as 'grossly irregular'.
Cullors co-founded BLM in July 2013, after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Alicia Garza, an Oakland activist, posted what she called a love letter to black people on Facebook, writing, 'Our lives matter.' Cullors, a friend of Garza, replied with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
New York activist Opal Tometi then used the words while building a digital network of community organizers and antiracism activists.
Garza and Tometi are no longer affiliated with the network, and Cullors was its figurehead and leader throughout the George Floyd protests - which saw huge donations flood in.
The organization's finances had been managed by a group called Thousand Currents, which says it has a 'mission of supporting grassroots movements pushing for a more just and equitable world.'
In the summer of 2020, leaders sought nonprofit status with the IRS, which was granted in December 2020 - allowing the organization to receive tax-deductible donations directly. The designation requires the foundation to file public 990 forms, revealing details of its organizational structure, employee compensation, programming and expenses.
In September 2020, Cullors signed documents with Thousand Currents transferring $66.5 million into BLM's accounts.In February 2021, Black Lives Matter confirmed it took in $90 million throughout 2020, distributed to their partner organizations, and had $60 million remaining in its accounts.
In its report, a snapshot of which was shared with AP, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising platform averaged at $30.76 each.
More than 10 percent of the donations were recurring.
The report does not state who gave the money in 2020, and leaders declined to name prominent donors.
Expenses were approximately $8.4 million — that includes staffing, operating and administrative costs, along with activities such as civic engagement, rapid response and crisis intervention. BLM said at the time that they were sharing the details in a bid to be more transparent - admitting that their structure and finances had previously been opaque.
But two months later, in April 2021, reports began emerging - provided by the National Legal and Policy Center - which showed Cullors had amassed a $3.2 million property empire.
© The BridgeheadPatrisse Cullors' current real estate holdings. In her new Topanga Canyon zip code, 88 per cent of residents are white and 1.8 per cent black, according to the census.
Many within BLM turned against Cullors, questioning where she had accumulated the money. Cullors has written two books, has a deal with YouTube, and signed a production deal with Warner Bros. in 2020 to develop programming 'for children, young adults and families.'
However, amid the furor she stood down and announced that two people were taking over as executive directors - Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele.
Yet Themba and Bandele in September said that they had never taken up the roles, following disagreements with leadership.
© Twitter; ACLUMakani Themba (left) and Monifa Bandele were announced as directors of BLM in May 2021, but never agreed terms and never took the job
'As a result, we did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity.'
Themba and Bandele said they did not know who was now running BLM, as their discussions never progressed.
Two other people remained on the board, after Cullors' departure - Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard, according to undated documents obtained by The Washington Examiner.
Bowers served as the treasurer for multiple activist organizations run by Cullors, The Washington Examiner reported, including BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group that paid Cullors $20,000 a month and spent nearly $26,000 on 'meetings' at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019.
Bowers has not commented on the current status of the $60 million in the BLM coffers.
Howard also refused to comment when asked by the paper, and has since updated his LinkedIn page to remove references to his work with 'an international social justice organization'.
Tax returns filed by BLMGN in 2019 give an address in Los Angeles that does not exist; when a reporter with The Washington Examiner went to a similar address, and same zip code, a security guard said that many people make the mistake but there was no BLM presence in the building.
An unnamed BLM spokesman told the paper by email: 'In response to your request for a copy of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's 2020 Form 990, we wish to inform you that at this time we do not maintain a permanent office.'
Kamenar said his watchdog group believes there should be a 'full audit' of BLM.
'Bottom line: Lot of questionable financial activity, organizational structure, location of the books, etc. that call for a full investigation,' Kamenar said.
BLM are yet to respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Comment: From the New York Post report: The donor list for Thousand Currents finds the usual suspects, including George Soros' Tides Foundation