Oklahoma Black Lives Matter leader indicted for fraud, money laundering
[December 12, 2025]
By SEAN MURPHY
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted the leader of the
Black Lives Matter movement in Oklahoma City over allegations that
millions of dollars in grant funds were improperly spent on
international trips, groceries and personal real estate, prosecutors
announced Thursday.
Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was indicted earlier this month on
20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, court
records show.
Court records do not indicate the name of Dickerson's attorney, and
messages left Thursday at her mobile number and by email were not
immediately returned.
According to the indictment, Dickerson served since at least 2016 as the
executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, which accepted charitable
donations through its affiliation with the Arizona-based Alliance for
Global Justice.
In total, BLM OKC raised more than $5.6 million dating back to 2020,
largely from online donors and national bail funds that were supposed to
be used to post bail for individuals arrested in connection with racial
justice protests after the killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota police
officer in 2020, the indictment alleges.
When those bail funds were returned to BLM OKC, the indictment alleges,
Dickerson embezzled at least $3.15 million into her personal accounts
and then used the money to pay for trips to Jamaica and the Dominican
Republic, retail shopping, at least $50,000 in food and grocery
deliveries for herself and her children, a personal vehicle, and six
properties in Oklahoma City deeded to her or to a company she
controlled.
The indictment also alleges she submitted false annual reports to the
alliance stating that the funds were used only for tax-exempt purposes.
If convicted, Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a
fine of up to $250,000 for each count of wire fraud and 10 years in
prison and fines for each count of money laundering.
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The Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter in
Oklahoma City, speaks during a rally outside the Stillwater Police
Department in Stillwater, Okla., June 3, 2020, to protest the death
of George Floyd, a black man who died after being restrained by
Minneapolis police officers on May 25. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
In a live video posted on her Facebook page Thursday afternoon,
Dickerson said she was not in custody and was “fine.”
“I cannot make an official comment about what transpired today,” she
said. “I am home. I am safe. I have confidence in our team.”
“A lot of times when people come at you with these types of things
... it's evidence that you are doing the work,” she continued. “That
is what I'm standing on.”
The Black Lives Matter movement first emerged in 2013 after the
acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who
killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. But it was the 2014
death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri,
that made the slogan “Black lives matter” a rallying cry for
progressives and a favorite target of derision for conservatives.
The Associated Press reported in October that the Justice Department
was investigating whether leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement
defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during
racial justice protests in 2020. There was no immediate indication
that Dickerson's indictment is connected to that probe.
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