An anti-police activist misused more than $75,000 in donations to pay for a luxury vacation in Cancun and several shopping trips and robbed his only employee of “tens of thousands of dollars in earned wages,” the Washington, D.C., attorney general alleged. Monday.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued Brandon Anderson and his nonprofit “police transparency and accountability organization,” Raheem AI, for allegedly violating the District’s worker rights and charity group laws, alleging that the “Defund the Police” backer used charity funds “to support his lavish lifestyle.”
“Brandon Anderson misused charitable donations to fund lavish vacations and shopping trips, and Raheem AI’s Board of Directors let him get away with it,” Schwalb said in a statement.
“Not only did their financial abuse violate the fundamental principles of nonprofit governance, but Anderson and Raheem AI also failed to pay their employees the wages they earned,” the attorney general added. “My office will not allow people to disguise themselves behind noble causes while breaking the law, defrauding taxpayers or stealing from their employees.”
Anderson, a self-described advocates abolition of the policefounded Raheem AI in 2017 with the goal of “equipping Black, Brown, and Indigenous community crisis responders with the tools, training, connections, and financing they need to provide care.”
Raheem AI sought to create an emergency response app that would allow people wary of police to bypass 911 in times of crisis.
Anderson’s nonprofit received more than $4.3 million in donations before the app project “flourished,” according to the New York Times.
Jasmine Banks, a former Raheem AI employee, told the newspaper in August that she discovered credit card records detailing Anderson’s lavish spending after the nonprofit stopped paying her salary.
Schwalb claims that Anderson has been raiding Raheem AI’s coffers for personal use since 2021.
The complaint against Anderson and Raheem AI details more than $40,000 in expenses on mansion and penthouse rentals, $10,000 on personal travel, including a trip to a Cancun resort, and a $10,000 “executive director clothing allowance” used for purchases at luxury retailers such as Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen, Bloomingdales, Farfetch and Saks and $5,000 in veterinary emergency services.
The lawsuit also alleges that Anderson and Raheem AI violated the District’s Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wage Payment and Collection Law, and Ban on Noncompete Agreements Act.
According to the complaint, Raheem AI has been without a treasurer since 2020, giving Anderson unfettered control over his finances.
“The Board of Directors also failed to implement measures to oversee the organization’s finances, including Anderson’s corruption,” Schwalb said.
Raheem AI also has not paid Banks “tens of thousands of dollars in earned wages” since April, when she notified the nonprofit’s board of directors of Anderson’s potentially illegal conduct, the DC AG said.
The lawsuit notes that Banks was also allegedly forced to sign an “illegal” non-compete agreement as part of the terms of employment.
“It hurts my heart to say it, but I think it was a scam from the beginning,” Banks told the New York Times in August about Raheem AI and Anderson.
Anderson did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
