BLM Activist Convicted of Stealing Donations, Wire Fraud, Money Laundering
A Toledo Black Lives Matter activist has been found guilty of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering by a jury following a trial for stealing donated money for his personal gain.
According to court documents from the Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office, Sir Maejor Page, 35, created a 501(c)(3) Facebook page called Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta (BLMGA), then used it to defraud donors out of more than $450,000 after BLMGA’s tax-exempt status as a charity was revoked.
The Facebook page was created in 2016 and registered as a domestic non-profit with the Georgia Secretary of State Corporations Division.
The Ohio Star reported:
Facebook recognized BLMGA as a valid non-profit organization and allowed users to make donations directly to BLMGA via the social media site.
In 2017, the IRS approved Page’s request to grant BLMGA tax-exempt status under Section 503(c)(3) of the tax code but dissolved the page’s tax-exempt status in 2019.
Despite this, Page continued to accept donations after “falsely portraying BLMGA to the public as a legitimate charity engaged in social justice work, when in fact, it was not,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Page, for example, falsely represented that the donations would be used to “fight for George Floyd” and the “movement.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said:
“Instead, Page used the money that individual donors gave to BLMGA not for social justice causes, but rather to buy items for his own personal use, such as a house and furniture.”
“Page also committed money-laundering crimes when he bought these items with the donations that he fraudulently obtained.”
BLMGA currently boasts 62,000 Facebook followers despite not being active since September of 2020.
FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Greg Nelsen said in a statement:
“Preying on the generosity of the public for personal gain is cold and calculated.”
“The FBI and its white-collar crime division along with our federal, state, and local partners will continue to aggressively find and investigate criminals who believe they can deceive others through shady business practices.”
The Daily Mail reported:
Page’s lawyer claimed that the residence was to be used as a community center or ‘battered women’s refuge’.
But when investigators swarmed on the property, items recovered included two AR-15-style rifles and a Glock handgun worth more than $3,000 paid for using money transferred into his personal account from his BLM charity, Desorbo said.
The federal complaint alleged Page splashed more than $1,300 a security system, more than $2000 on tailored suits and $12,000 worth of furniture.
At his trial, the court heard about the conflicting sides of Page, WSB-TV Atlanta reports.
On one hand he was a well regarded social justice activist who had operated a BLM arm since the mid-2010s.
READ: Coca-Cola Quietly Deletes BLM Support from Its Website