Sharing the wealth? Black Lives Matter hosts dinner and dance for dozens of grieving families at 'controversial' $6M LA compound group secretly bought BEFORE its finances came under fire

Black Lives Matter hosted a meal for dozens of families affected by police violence at the organization's controversial $6million compound in Los Angeles. 

The dinner, with more than 150 guests, included some who had previously accused the network of using their loved one's names to raise tens of millions of dollars.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc, faced accusations of financial mismanagement after purchasing the property off the back of funds raised in the wake of the racial justice protests of 2020. 

The 6,500-square foot Southern California mansion was bought by BLM on October 27, 2020, for $5.8 million despite the fact the seller, Dyane Pascall, had purchased it for $3.1 million just six days earlier. 

The fall dinner and dance appears to be one of the few uses made of the luxury six-bedroom property that has its own pool, soundstage, multiple fireplaces, 'mud house' and 'butler's pantry', since its purchase. 

BLM also allegedly wished to keep the house purchase a secret despite three of its former leaders reportedly filming a series of videos dining and drinking Champagne outside the estate in Spring 2021. 

Documents and internal communications reportedly reveal the luxury property was handled in ways that 'blur boundaries' between charitable use and those that would benefit some of the organization's leaders, New York magazine reported. 

The discrepancy between BLM's purchase price and that paid by Pascall also appears to remain unexplained. 

Beatrice X Johnson, co-founder of Families United 4 Justice Network, who attended the dinner was one a skeptic.

Johnson's nephew Oscar Grant, was fatally shot while restrained in an Oakland, California, transit station platform in 2009. 

'There's been a lot of controversy around this spot, even with families,' she said.

She added: 'The families wanted to see this place. That's a no brainer. And who else would be invited to dinner there, if not the families impacted by police?' 

'It was laid out, it was beautiful, it was welcoming,' she said of the recent dinner. 

Organizers told the Associated Press the house, which sits on a a three-quarter-acre lot, will officially be called the 'Creator's house' and will continue to be a refuge for those grieving loved ones killed in incidents of police violence. 

It will also continue to serve as a campus for the foundation's Black artists fellowship.

'I personally call it a home for freedom, because it is where Black people's gifts and talents can be nurtured in order to flourish,' said Shalomyah Bowers, a BLM foundation board member. 

'It's where we've kept our activists and organizers safe. It's where we plan and organize outside of the confines of white supremacy. And it's where healing happens,' he added.

Defending the purchase of the property Bowers told the Associated Press 'the critics and the naysayers would have you believe that we have done something improper by creating this safe haven and this safe place for black people to dream anew.

'But really its just a reminder of the double standards that exist in society for black folks' he explained.

Adding: 'When white organizations purchase property its seen as a wise and safe investment in order to achieve your mission. 

'When black foundations do it is ill-informed and unwise.' 

'Being here, knowing that someone cares about these families and that the families are not left behind, is a really, really good feeling,' said Yolanda Price, whose stepson Jeffrey Price Jr. was killed in a 2018 crash involving a Metropolitan Police Department vehicle in the nation's capital.

'It lets people know that they are not left behind,' she added.

Questions about the price of the property cast further doubt about the transparency of BLM's financial situation.

The reported rapid price inflation 'raises serious questions,' ethics experts said at the time.

The organization in February 2021 said it had taken in more than $90 million in 2020 and still had $60 million on hand, but it remains unclear how that money is being managed or even where it is. 

Cullors, the co-founder of the organization, resigned in May 2021 as director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF), amid scrutiny of her property empire. 

She has written best-selling books, and has a contract with Warner Brothers to produce content.

Meanwhile, just 33 percent of Black Lives Matter's accumulated donations of $90 million found its way to charitable causes, a shocking report released this summer stated. 

The group doled out around $30 million between 2020 and 2022, during which time it collected $90 million in donations as it promoted itself as the preeminent civil rights organization in the US.

Among the benefactors of BLM's paltry donations were friends and family of co-founder Patrisse Cullors, in particular her graffiti artist brother, Paul, who received $1.7 million in salary and contracts during that time period.

Cullors' brother was on the board of BLM, received a salary of just under $140,000 while his company, Black Ties Security was paid over $750,000 by the group for 'security services,' the New York Post reported. 

A year earlier, his company, Cullors Security LLC, received $841,000, for services.

In 2021, he paid $637,000 for a home in a Los Angeles-suburb.

Among the causes that the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, which is based in Oakland, contributed to were pro-black and trans causes as well as anti-police efforts, according to the Post's report. The newspaper said that the total number donated was $30,498,722.

Of that $30.4 milliion, $4.5 million went to non-profits that are run by known BLM supporters and associates. Despite the massive donations, BLM posted losses of $8.5 million for 2021.