A prominent Black Lives Matter activist who tried to collect $10 million in a “frivolous” lawsuit against a national group last year may now be on the hook for more than $700,000 in legal fees and costs, The Post has learned.
Los Angeles-based activist Melina Abdullah has already been ordered to pay $100,698 in legal fees to Bowers Consulting, a firm run by Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation leader Shalomyah Bowers, according to a ruling this month by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.
“Melina Abdullah filed a perjury lawsuit to try and gain power, and it didn’t work,” Bowers said in an exclusive statement to The Post Wednesday. “I’m glad a judge firmly rejected Melina’s claim a few months ago, but it’s also very important that there is some accountability for her actions because free speech doesn’t allow you to spread lies … We’re thankful the judge held her accountable.”
On January 30, a judge will decide whether Abdullah and the breakaway Black Lives Matter Grassroots will be forced to pay more than $600,000 in additional legal fees and costs to BLMGNF and Bowers himself.
“BLMGNF agrees with the Court’s decision to dismiss the entire lawsuit,” said Byron McLain, BLMGNF’s attorney, in a statement to The Post Wednesday. “BLM Grassroots is required by statute to pay BLMGNF attorneys’ fees and costs as a result, and we look forward to hearing the Judge’s decision on the exact amount BLM Grassroots and Melina Abdullah must reimburse BLMGNF.”
BLM Grassroots leader Melina Abdullah, who tried to sue the national organization for $10 million in 2022, may now have to pay more than $700,000 in legal fees for the group. Getty Images Former BLM national activist Melina Abdullah must pay legal fees for her former group after suing her for $10 million. Abdullah, right, is seen with former BLM leaders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza at a $6 million mansion purchased with BLM donations. Patrisse Cullors/YouTube
Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies at California State University in Los Angeles, has accused Bowers of “sucking” more than $10 million in fees from donors to pay his consulting firm, according to his 2022 lawsuit, which was dismissed last year. Abdullah incorporated BLM Grassroots in May 2022 after he was kicked out of the national group, according to public records.
Abdullah has claimed that his group, which he says consists of two dozen BLM chapters across the country, is entitled to the cash, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick ruled in July that they failed to prove their case.
At the time, Bowers told The Post that the lawsuit was more than a power struggle after Abdullah was denied a position on the nonprofit’s board of directors. Bowers took over BLMGNF following board turmoil following the resignation of BLMGNF co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who left the organization after The Post revealed that she made a $3 million real estate purchase.
D’Zhane Parker (from left), Cicley Gay and Shalomyah Bowers take over the board of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation after co-founder Patrice Cullors steps down in 2021. Bowers accused Abdullah of trying to usurp power after being denied a position on the nonprofit’s board of directors. AP
Abdullah, who posted a 29-minute video on his site criticizing Bowers and other BLMGNF board members, declined to comment when contacted by The Post Wednesday.
Cullors claims he did not use any of the donations to buy three properties in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
The group, which raked in more than $90 million in donations after the death of George Floyd in 2020, has spent donations to buy a $6 million, 6,500-square-foot mansion in Studio City that Cullors said will be used as offices and event space for the nonprofit. The group also spent $6.3 million in donor funds for a mansion in Toronto for the Canadian division of BLM.
Black Lives Matter organized protests across the country and received more than $90 million in donations in 2020 following a series of police brutalities, including the killing of George Floyd. AFP via Getty Images
Abdullah is a co-founder of BLM with Cullors and Alizia Garza. The three women headed the nonprofit when a shell company for the group bought the Los Angeles property in Oct. 2020.
Abdullah, an advocate of unpaid police, has also sued the Los Angeles Police Department — for allegedly harassing him when they sent a SWAT team to his home in 2020 — as well as a former district attorney.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
