D.C. attorney general accuses leader of anti-police organization of keeping donations received

Columbia Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb reported that he has filed a lawsuit against Raheem AI, a nonprofit organization created to improve transparency and accountability in policing, and its founder and executive director, Brandon Anderson.

The lawsuit was for allegedly violating the District's workers' rights and nonprofit laws. The prosecutor asserted that Anderson used Raheem AI's charitable funds for his own personal benefit - specifically, to maintain his lavish lifestyle - while the organization failed to control expenses or implement basic nonprofit governance requirements.

"Anderson and Raheem AI also failed to pay the organization’s sole District-based employee the wages she had earned and required her to sign an illegal non-compete clause," the DA's office highlighted.

Similarly, the DA's office explained that the nonprofit organization is a District of Columbia tax-exempt corporation with the stated purpose to "empower communities to achieve greater police transparency and accountability."

"Not only did their financial abuses violate fundamental principles of nonprofit governance, but Anderson and Raheem AI failed to pay their employee the wages they had earned. My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers," Schwalb said of Anderson's management.

According to the DA's office, specifically, Anderson diverted at least $75,000 of non-profit funds for his own personal use. The DA's investigation noted that, since 2021, Anderson repeatedly used Raheem AI funds for personal use: he spent more than $40,000 on a luxury vacation rental service that allows members to stay in high-end mansions and penthouses, $10,000 on hotels and Airbnb for personal travel, including a resort in Cancun, $10,000 on designer clothing brands, and $5,000 on emergency veterinary services. None of these expenditures, the office highlighted, furthered Raheem AI's stated nonprofit purpose.

The DA's office insisted that the intent of the lawsuit is to get a court order to dissolve Raheem AI as a district nonprofit corporation, recover the misused funds and direct them to appropriate charitable purposes. In addition, it seeks to have Anderson permanently barred from serving as an officer or director of any district nonprofit organization.

"OAG’s lawsuit alleges that these actions violate the District’s Nonprofit Corporation Act (NCA), Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL), and Ban on Noncompete Agreements Act (BNA)," the office stated.