BLM Leader Indicted on 25 Federal Counts of Fraud, Money Laundering
The executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma has been charged with dozens of federal crimes, accused of embezzling millions in charitable donations meant for bail funds and social justice efforts and using the money to fund an extravagant personal lifestyle.
According to a newly unsealed federal indictment, Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was charged with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering by a grand jury on December 3.
“For each count of wire fraud, Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “For each count of money laundering, Dickerson faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transaction.”
Federal prosecutors allege Dickerson diverted over $3.5 million from accounts tied to Black Lives Matter Oklahoma (BLMOKC) into her own personal bank accounts. The indictment accuses her of spending the funds on vacations to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, six properties in Oklahoma City, tens of thousands in luxury shopping, and over $50,000 on food and grocery deliveries for herself and her family.
“Beginning in June 2020 and continuing through at least October 2025, Dickerson embezzled funds from BLMOKC’s accounts for her personal benefit,” the indictment states. “Dickerson deposited at least $3.15 million in returned bail checks into her personal accounts, rather than into BLMOKC’s accounts.”
The case marks one of the largest fraud prosecutions to emerge from the Black Lives Matter movement since 2020, when the organization and its affiliates raised hundreds of millions of dollars following the death of George Floyd.
According to prosecutors, BLMOKC raised more than $5.6 million from online donors and national bail funds during the 2020 protests. Much of the money came from the Community Justice Exchange, the Minnesota Freedom Fund, and the Massachusetts Bail Fund, and was intended to bail out protesters and support “racial justice” initiatives.
The indictment states that although BLMOKC was not a registered nonprofit, it raised money under the fiscal sponsorship of the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), an Arizona-based left-wing nonprofit. As the fiscal sponsor, AFGJ required BLMOKC to use its funds strictly for charitable purposes permitted under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code — and to provide full accounting upon request.
Instead, prosecutors say Dickerson “used interstate wire communications to submit two false annual reports to AFGJ” that concealed her personal use of the funds.
“She reported that she had used BLMOKC funds only for tax-exempt purposes,” the indictment reads. “She did not disclose that she used funds for her personal benefit.”
Federal agents say Dickerson funneled more than $3 million in returned bail checks into her personal accounts. She then used the money to fund a luxury lifestyle that included recreational travel to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, tens of thousands of dollars in retail shopping and designer goods, over $50,000 in restaurant and grocery deliveries, the purchase of a personal vehicle, and six real estate properties in Oklahoma City registered in her name or under Equity International, LLC, a shell company she controlled.
The indictment describes a years-long scheme in which Dickerson repeatedly lied to donors and AFGJ about how BLMOKC funds were being used. “Although BLMOKC was supposed to use national bail fund grants to post pretrial bail for individuals arrested in connection with protests for racial justice after the death of George Floyd,” prosecutors wrote, “Dickerson used those funds for personal enrichment.”
If convicted on all counts, Dickerson faces decades in federal prison. U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced the charges Wednesday, stating that the indictment “reflects a commitment to holding accountable anyone who exploits the public’s trust for personal gain — regardless of their politics or position.”
The case adds to a growing list of corruption scandals linked to local and national leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. In recent years, several BLM-affiliated organizations have faced lawsuits or criminal charges over alleged misuse of donations.
"""My husband brought his mistress to our daughter’s wedding—and then asked me to give her my seat beside him.
"""My husband brought his mistress to our daughter’s wedding—and then asked me to give her my seat beside him. For a few seconds, I honestly thought I was looking at the wrong table, because my name card had vanished and Melissa’s was sitting exactly where mine had been on every seating chart. She wore a pale blue silk dress, lifted her champagne as if she belonged there, and avoided my eyes when I stopped beside the chair. David stood up, pointed to an empty seat at the next table, and quietly said, “For tonight, why don’t you sit over there?”
I had spent fourteen months helping our daughter, Emily, plan that wedding, from dress fittings and florist meetings to late-night calls over napkins and seating charts. That morning, while I fastened the pearl buttons on her gown, she made me promise I would enjoy the day and not let anything between her father and me touch it. I meant that promise, because whatever was left of my marriage, I would not make my daughter’s wedding the battlefield where it died. But David had apparently made a different plan, and he expected me to cooperate with it in silence.
When I asked what Melissa was doing there, David’s face showed guilt for only a second before he hid it behind irritation. He acted as though I were creating the problem simply by noticing that his mistress was seated at the family table in the place reserved for the bride’s mother. Then Melissa looked at me and said, “Honey, today really isn’t the day to make Emily uncomfortable.” I almost laughed, because the woman who had been sleeping with my husband for nearly a year was now warning me not to embarrass my own daughter.
I could feel people settling into nearby seats, laughing and talking, unaware that my marriage was being quietly rearranged in front of them. David kept his voice low and told me we should not “do this here,” as if the humiliation belonged to me because I refused to disappear politely. I looked at the empty chair he had chosen for me between a cousin and someone from the groom’s side, and I realized something colder than anger. This was not spontaneous; he had thought about where Melissa would sit, and he had assumed I would move.
For twenty-eight years, I had been the woman who adjusted, explained, forgave, and made excuses when David forgot anniversaries, missed dinners, or put work ahead of family. When he became distant, I learned to expect less instead of asking for more, and somewhere along the way he mistook that patience for permission. Even now, part of me considered taking the other chair, smiling for photographs, swallowing the humiliation, and telling myself it was all for Emily. I actually reached for the chair because protecting my daughter still mattered more to me than winning a public fight.
Then I heard one word behind me: “Mom?” Emily was walking toward us in her wedding dress, still glowing from the ceremony, and at first she looked confused rather than angry. Her eyes moved from me, to the empty chair, to Melissa, then back to the family table where she had personally placed me months ago. David quickly stepped in and announced that he had “rearranged a few things,” as if changing the bride’s seating chart without permission were no more serious than moving a centerpiece.
Emily asked why I was not sitting in my seat, and David casually pointed to the neighboring table and said I would be sitting “right there.” Her smile disappeared, and her eyes dropped to the place card in front of Melissa. I watched my daughter’s expression go completely still as she picked up that card and turned it over in her hand. In that instant, I understood the worst part: Emily had not approved this, and David had brought his mistress into our daughter’s wedding believing he could force everyone to accept what he wanted once it was already done.
What Emily did not know was that six months earlier, I had discovered David’s affair through a message that appeared on his phone while he was in the shower. Melissa had written, “I hate pretending I don’t miss you when she’s around,” followed by another message asking whether Friday was still theirs. When I confronted him, David spent eleven minutes calling me paranoid, insecure, dramatic, suspicious, and unfair before I repeated Melissa’s words exactly. The silence that followed ended our marriage long before either of us ever said the word divorce.
We had kept the details quiet because Emily was planning her wedding, and I refused to turn her happiest season into a crisis about us. David told me he was “confused,” that what he had with Melissa was “more complicated than an affair,” and that he needed time before making decisions. I agreed only that Emily’s wedding came first, so we slept in separate rooms, spoke carefully, and tried to appear functional while our marriage quietly collapsed. I believed David understood that one day required restraint, but he had apparently used that silence to prepare something else.
Three weeks before the wedding, he had casually asked whether Emily had finalized the family table and whether every seat had been assigned. At the time, I thought it was harmless conversation, but standing there with Melissa’s card in my daughter’s hand, I finally understood why he had asked. He had been checking whether there would be room, and when there was not, he simply removed me. Emily looked up at her father and asked, very quietly, “Where is Mom’s place card?”—and for the first time that night, David had no easy answer.
…FULL STORY IN THE COMMENT 👇👇👇"" "
