The middleman who facilitated Black Lives Matter’s secretive purchase of a $6 million Los Angeles mansion in October 2020 said the purchase was “all done above board,” but he refused to answer any questions about his involvement in the transaction.
Public real estate records show that Dyane Pascall, a self-described nonprofit real estate investor with close ties to BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, purchased the property for $5,889,000 in cash Oct. 21, 2020. Six days later, the records show that Pascall transferred the property’s deed to an LLC owned by Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the charity that represents the national BLM movement.
However, Pascall told the Washington Examiner when contacted by phone Wednesday that he never touched any money during the property purchase, and when pressed for details on where the money for the transaction came from, he said, “I don’t owe you an explanation.”
BLM PURCHASED $6 MILLION LOS ANGELES MANSION WITH DONOR MONEY: REPORT
“I never touched any money. The money went straight to escrow,” Pascall said, adding that he “didn’t purchase the house” but had “assigned it to an LLC.”
Pascall refused to answer where the money for the property purchase came from or why public records show that he owned the property outright for six days before transferring it to BLM’s LLC.
“Who are you and why do I need to talk to you about anything?” Pascall asked. “This is an investment that an organization has the right to do if you know anything about nonprofit law.”
Midway through the conversation, Pascall tried to say the call was off the record, something the Washington Examiner did not agree to beforehand.
Pascall purchased the property just two weeks after BLM received a $66.5 million cash infusion from its former fiscal sponsor Oct. 6, 2020. The charity said Monday that it used Pascall and the LLC as middlemen for the property purchase to “avoid exposing BLM’s assets to any litigation or liability.”
BLM referred to the property in internal communications as the “Campus,” according to New York Magazine. The mansion boasts parking space for 24 cars, a 2,300-square-foot engineered sound stage, custom staircases, Italian fireplaces, and seven bedrooms.
“This home is not just a home — it’s, like, four structures,” Pascall told the Washington Examiner. “It’s a film studio, sound stage, commercial space, office space. It’s a campus. It’s got 20 parking spaces so people can come and work. It’s not a home per se. It’s an actual campus space for people to work from.”
While the mansion was purchased with BLM’s charitable funds, the house has been used in multiple now-deleted videos on Cullors’s personal YouTube channel, raising concerns from watchdog groups that BLM is using its nonprofit assets for the private benefit of its leaders.
The California Office of the Attorney General, which approved BLM’s $66.5 million cash infusion in October 2020, declined to comment on the charity’s mansion purchase.
“To protect its integrity, we are unable to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation,” the office told the Washington Examiner.
Cullors said Tuesday that BLM concealed the home purchase because it “needed repairs and renovation.”
But a source with direct knowledge of the property sale told the Washington Examiner that the mansion received substantial renovations before its October 2020 sale.
The source also disputed a story by the New York Post claiming the property was actually sold to Pascall for $3.1 million and then sold back to BLM’s LLC six days later for $5.8 million. The man who sold the mansion to Pascall, televangelist Shawn Bolz, reportedly told the New York Post he sold it for $3.1 million.
“That doesn’t even make sense. $3.1 million? I think he’s confused. Maybe that’s what he’s saying he made on it,” the source said.
Real estate records show that Bolz purchased the home for $3.1 million in 2016. It was listed for sale for $5.89 million on Sept. 15, 2020, about a month and a half before Pascall closed on the property.
Bolz couldn’t be reached for comment.
Pascall also disputed the New York Post’s reporting.
“No, I did not buy the house for $3.1 million and sell it for $5.8 million. That would be ridiculous,” he said.
BLM claimed in an “impact report” published in February 2021 that it incurred $8.4 million in operating expenses and disbursed $21.7 million in grants to 33 outside organizations in 2020, the year the group raked in at least $90 million during the nationwide unrest that followed George Floyd’s killing.
It is not clear if BLM counted its $6 million mansion purchase as an operating expense or a grant. The charity did not return a request for comment.
Pascall said all information on BLM’s real estate purchase will come to light when the group reports its Form 990 tax return, which is due to the IRS by mid-May.
“It will explain everything you need to know,” he said. “I don’t need to talk about this. All I know is I’m fine. If you want to report some bull****, that’s on you, brother.”
BLM’S MILLIONS UNACCOUNTED FOR AFTER LEADERS QUIETLY JUMPED SHIP
The revelation that BLM used charitable assets to purchase the Los Angeles mansion follows reporting by the Washington Examiner in late January that exposed the group’s shocking lack of financial transparency. The reporting led multiple states, including California, to issue legal threats to BLM over its failure to report what it did with its 2020 financial windfall. BLM voluntarily shut down its ability to raise money in February, and Amazon booted the group from its charity platform, AmazonSmile, due to its compliance problems across the nation.
