The FBI arrested an Atlanta fraudster in the United States for forming the Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta and squandering $ 200,000 in donations to buy expensive suits and a new home.
Sir Maejor Page, 32, whose real name is Tyree Conyers-Page, was arrested on September 25 in Toledo, Ohio. Page was charged by federal prosecutors with wire fraud and money laundering, The New York Times reports.
In 2016, Page created a Facebook page called Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta and raised money through his GoFundMe account. BLMGA raised over $ 466,000 in donations in the summer of 2020 after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a nationwide protest movement.
Page argued that the donations to his organization would be used to support the George Floyd movement and not for personal purchases. Instead, federal investigators found that the money was spent on nights out and nice clothes.
He also used the donated money to buy a house, not in Atlanta, but where he actually lived, in Toledo, Ohio, authorities said.
Other groups associated with the BLM movement and based in Atlanta have pulled back from Page’s organization and its calls for donations.
Thus, the organization of Black Lives Matter Atlanta wrote on Facebook: “This page will never seek donations. This is a grass-roots collective movement to fight for justice for the disenfranchised, and victims of police brutality.”
In turn, Ron Goolsby, a friend of Page, said that Page planned to turn the house in Toledo into a shelter for victims of domestic abuse. He added that soon it will be clarified and his friend will be exonerated.
The death of George Floyd in the custody of the Minneapolis police in May touched off demonstrations across the country and renewed the Black Lives Matter movement, protesting the use of aggressive force by the police and demanding more action to scrub out the deep stain of institutional racism.
