Federal prosecutors have stated that a longtime organizer in Oklahoma City’s Black Lives Matter chapter diverted millions of dollars intended for bail support and protest-related aid, directing large sums toward personal purchases and international travel. The allegations were detailed in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was charged earlier this month with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, according to court documents. Records list no attorney for Dickerson, and calls and emails to numbers associated with her on Thursday went unanswered.
Prosecutors assert that Dickerson led Black Lives Matter OKC as its executive director beginning no later than 2016. The group collected charitable contributions through the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice, a fiscal sponsor widely used by grassroots organizations.
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The indictment outlines that BLM OKC brought in more than $5.6 million starting in 2020. Much of that money came from online donations and national bail funds set up after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, with donors intending their contributions to support protesters jailed during racial justice demonstrations.
According to prosecutors, once bail funds were refunded to the organization, Dickerson began transferring those reimbursements into her personal accounts. Investigators allege she ultimately diverted at least $3.15 million and spent it on trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, extensive retail shopping, roughly $50,000 in food and delivery orders for herself and her children, a personal vehicle, and six Oklahoma City properties placed in her name or under a company she controlled.
The indictment further argue that Dickerson filed annual reports to the alliance falsely claiming all spending adhered to tax-exempt standards.
If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine for each wire fraud count, along with up to 10 years and corresponding fines for each money laundering charge, according to AP’s report.
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Dickerson addressed the situation only briefly in a Facebook Live video posted Thursday afternoon, telling followers she remained at home and was “fine.”
“I cannot make an official comment about what transpired today,” she said. “I am home. I am safe. I have confidence in our team.”
“A lot of times when people come at you with these types of things … it’s evidence that you are doing the work,” she added. “That is what I’m standing on.”
The larger Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin and gained national reach following the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The phrase “Black lives matter” became both a defining protest call and a persistent target for conservative critics.
Dickerson’s case comes after a report in October that the Justice Department was examining whether national Black Lives Matter figures misused tens of millions of dollars raised during 2020’s protests. There is currently no public indication that her indictment stems from that inquiry.
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