US News

BLM hires Clinton aide who paid for Steele dossier to sort shady finances

Black Lives Matter has turned to Hillary Clinton’s controversial campaign lawyer — the operative who commissioned the notorious Steele Dossier — to sort out the non-profit’s questionable finances.

Newly released tax documents for Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc., reveal that Marc Elias, 53, came on board earlier this month.

On Feb. 11, Elias’ Washington-based election law firm filed 2020 tax documents for BLMGNF, which claim that the group received no donations or gave out any grants despite raking in more than $65 million that year.

In addition, BLMGNF changed its filing period from a calendar year to a fiscal year, meaning they only have to produce accounts for the first six months of 2020, and likely have another year to file their return for the remainder of 2020.

The accounting move did not sit well with charity critics and other activists who have been demanding more accountability from BLMGNF over its finances.

Elias (center) hired Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that created a false document accusing Donald Trump of colluding with Russian operatives during his presidential run. Getty Images

“Taking advantage of filing extensions and changing its fiscal year is already leaving the public in the dark about what happened to more than $60 million in funds intended to forward social justice causes,” Laurie Styron, executive director of Charity Watch, which rates non-profits across the country, told The Post Thursday. “It would be interesting to understand if this change in fiscal year was a good faith effort on the part of whoever is in charge to better manage its operations and staff resources, or was rather a delay tactic to buy more time.”

Elias served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and hired Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that created a false document accusing Donald Trump of colluding with Russian operatives during his presidential run. He also runs Democracy Docket, “a progressive media platform” that advocates for voting rights and sells branded merchandise on its website.

Elias served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and has been tapped to oversee BLM’s troubled finances. Getty Images

Elias, who was sanctioned for “lack of candor” in a decision by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, founded the election law firm Elias Law Group in August after leaving the Perkins Coie law firm. He has vigorously contested the March 2021 sanctions, which came during his representation of Texas Democrats in a voting case, and the decision is currently on appeal.

Calls and emails to Elias and BLMGNF were not returned this week.

In addition to Elias, BLMGNF has added Minyon Moore, a Democratic Party operative who was on the Biden/Harris transition team and served as the White House director of political affairs under President Bill Clinton.

BLMGNF has been leaderless since co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned last year. Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP

BLMGNF took money in Oct. 2020 from Thousand Currents, a charity that manages the finances of grassroots non-profits, according to documents filed with the California Attorney General. Attorneys general from Washington and California, where BLMGNF is based, had ordered the group to stop raising money until they disclosed their donations. California’s Department of Justice had warned the group’s leadership that they would be “personally liable” for failure to disclose their donations.

BLMGNF had been under fire in recent months for its failure to report its donations, with the states of Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia revoking their charitable registrations over a lack of financial transparency.

Tory Johnson, a California-based civil rights activist said he broke away from BLMGNF and began his own chapter of Black Lives Matter in Huntington Beach because of questions about BLMGNF’s finances.

Elias runs Democracy Docket, “a progressive media platform” that advocates for voting rights and sells branded merchandise on its website. Democracy Docket

“They are hurting our brand,” Johnson told The Post. “They are going to end up getting audited.”

BLMGNF has been leaderless since co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned last year — a month after The Post revealed that she had gone on a real estate buying spree in California and Georgia. Cullors has vigorously denied that funds for the more than $3 million in property purchases came from the movement. On Feb. 11, the group listed an address in Oakland, Calif., as its office in its filings to the California Attorney General, but the phone number listed on the form is out of service.

When she resigned, Cullors handed the top job to activists Monifa Bandele and Makani Themba, who later issued a statement saying they “did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity.”