Anti-police activist blew $75K in charity funds for luxury vacation rentals, other personal expenses: AG
An anti-police activist allegedly "misused charitable donations to fund lavish vacations and shopping sprees" after founding a nonprofit aimed at improving "transparency and accountability" in law enforcement, according to prosecutors.
The Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia is now suing Brandon Anderson – the executive director of Raheem AI – alleging that, since 2021, he "diverted $75,000 of nonprofit funds for his own personal use."
The funds reportedly included "spending over $40,000 on a luxury vacation rental service that allows members to stay in high-end mansions and penthouse apartments, $10,000 on hotels and Airbnb’s for personal travel – including to a Cancun resort, $10,000 on designer clothing brands, and $5,000 on emergency veterinary services."
"Brandon Anderson misused charitable donations to fund lavish vacations and shopping sprees, and the Raheem AI Board of Directors let him get away with it," Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement. "Not only did their financial abuses violate fundamental principles of nonprofit governance, but Anderson and Raheem AI failed to pay their [sole District-based] employee the wages they had earned.
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"My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers," he added.
Raheem AI was founded in 2017 with a goal to build a service that would allow people to file complaints against police, according to The New York Times.
"When you report police on Raheem.org, we connect you to a free lawyer, file a complaint against the officer and use your story to lobby for policies that defund police and invest in your community," Anderson told BET Networks.
The nonprofit then focused in 2021 on building an app that would dispatch alternative first responders – instead of police – to people in times of need, The New York Times reported.
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office says Raheem AI does business as Community Response Works and is a tax-exempt D.C. nonprofit corporation.
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"It has solicited donations to ‘equip black, brown, and indigenous community crisis responders with the tools, training, connections, and funding they need to provide care,'" the AG's office added.
"Brandon Anderson... served as a board member and as its Executive Director until April 2024. While Raheem AI’s board recently placed Anderson on leave and ceased operations, neither he nor the organization has restored the misused funds or compensated their employee for owed wages and damages," the office said.
Prosecutors also allege that Anderson and Raheem AI forced their D.C.-based employee to sign an "illegal noncompete clause."
The Attorney General's Office says the alleged actions violate D.C.’s Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wage Payment and Collection Law (WCPL), and Ban on Noncompete Agreements Act.
"With this lawsuit, OAG is seeking a Court order to dissolve Raheem AI as a District nonprofit corporation, recover misused funds and direct them to appropriate charitable purposes, permanently bar Anderson from serving as an officer or director of any District nonprofit, award Raheem AI’s Deputy Director the wages she is owed plus damages, and award penalties to the District for each violation of the WCPL," the office said.
Anderson has denied misusing funds intended for the nonprofit, the New York Times reported.