A complete accounting of every dollar I've ever raised for Samaria Rice

Countering the conspiracy and lies with facts, documents, statements, and receipts.

Every single day I work with men who were accused of crimes they didn’t commit. They were framed by police, then convicted by corrupt prosecutors, and sent to prison for it. Without fail, each of these men told me that it wasn’t just doing the time that was hard, it was the unique pain of being accused of something they had nothing to do with. Many exonerees, often choking back tears, have told me how much it stung to see lifelong friends, neighbors, family, and even the local papers they grew up loving say they were guilty of heinous rapes and murders they had nothing to do with.

All over the world this week, and for the past few months truly, I have been accused of actual crimes that I did not commit. Please stop telling me to let it go. I’ve tried that. It only gets worse when I remain silent. It has impacted every single facet of my life. It has impacted my wife, my kids, my extended family, my work, my friends, my organizations, my businesses, my reputation, and more. I have received hundreds of death threats from people who believe these lies and want me to know that I deserve to die for what they think I did.

Over the past week alone, social media posts and articles reaching over 500 million people have accused me of raising money for the family of Tamir Rice and stealing it. I’ve seen lifelong heroes say it. I’ve seen celebrities and influencers say it. All with absolute confidence that it must be true.

It’s not true. Not a little bit. Not kind of. Not sort of. Not on the low. Not behind the scenes. It’s a complete fabrication. All of it.

Here’s the thing - it’s either true or it’s not. It can’t be both.

Stealing money is a crime. Stealing money online is a state and federal crime. Raising money online for a particular person or cause and keeping it is a crime. People are in prison right now all over the country for this very thing.

1. I have never raised money for the family of Tamir Rice without being asked to do so by the family or their attorneys. Ever.

2. I have never even possessed a single penny that I’ve raised for this family or any family impacted by police violence or racial injustice. Not for a single moment.

3. I’ve never delayed or held funds raised for this family or any family impacted by police violence or racial injustice. Not once. Ever.

4. The organizations I help lead have never possessed a single penny I’ve raised for this family.

5. I’ve never been paid by families I’ve helped.

6. I’ve never been paid by the civil rights attorneys I’ve helped.

7. The lie that I was stealing from this family, or have ever stolen from this family, was first started by literal white supremacists and simply will not go away no matter what I say or do.

These lies have spiraled out of control and have interrupted every facet of my life and work - which I am sure was the goal from the start.

Below is a complete accounting of every single dollar I’ve raised for the family of Tamir Rice.

• If it matters to you, I implore you to ask every person I name in here about these things for yourself.

• If you seriously think I’ve stolen a single penny from this family, I implore you to please file a report with the authorities locally or with the FBI, DOJ, or anyone else that would have supervision in this case.

• If you seriously think I’ve stolen a single penny from ANY FAMILY impacted by police violence, please report it to authorities.

• If you seriously think any of that is true, please forward your evidence to your favorite investigative reporter, and demand they do a story on it.

• Also, if you think any of this is true, please file a lawsuit against me now. I earnestly welcome it.

• Please invite a forensic accounting firm to investigate this and publish their results.

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Tory Russell speaking in St. Louis. Photo by Wiley Price.

On Wednesday, December 3rd of 2014, the day of Tamir’s funeral, less than 2 weeks after Tamir was murdered, I got a phone call from Tory Russell, a front-line activist from Ferguson, Missouri. To this day Tory works closely with the family of Michael Brown and is one of the most respected grassroots activists in the country. For the previous four months, Tory had organized and protested around the clock in St. Louis but decided to travel to Cleveland to see how he could advise and support Tamir’s family. I helped raise over $280,000 for the family of Michael Brown, at the request of their attorney, Benjamin Crump, and Tory was aware of this. 

Tory was with Tamir’s family when he called me. First, he communicated to me just how devastating the situation was, but he quickly let me know that the family was going to need real financial help. Tory observed that everybody was already being forced to go back to work and just couldn’t afford to stay home another day. Tory put Tamir’s uncle, Michael Petty, on the phone to speak to me. Michael Petty had just spoken at the memorial service for Tamir and was functioning as a spokesperson for the family, I was told.

Tamir’s uncle asked me if I could help raise funds for the family. He did so right there in the presence of Tory Russell. I told him that I had just helped raise funds for the family of Michael Brown, and would gladly raise the funds for Tamir’s family, and could start immediately. Tory would be my primary contact person with the family. From 2014 all the way until the past week, Tory has privately and publicly confirmed this with people hundreds of times.

By the next day, we had raised $57,817.23 for Tamir’s family. The fundraiser was likely going to raise several hundred thousand dollars. People just wanted to help and this was a very practical way to do so. You have to go back in time to remember that George Zimmerman, who murdered Trayvon Martin, had a $200,000 online fundraiser. Three months before Tamir was murdered, Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson raised over $500,000 online. It was all so gross and bigots were using those fundraisers as a rallying cry to prove a nefarious point that you could kill Black boys in this country and get serious support for it.

At that point, on the opening day of the fundraiser for Tamir’s family, a white supremacist and Holocaust denier named Charles C. Johnson (look at his notorious Wikipedia page here) got involved. Johnson, who was permanently banned from Twitter, and permanently banned from Stripe and PayPal, and other places for his white supremacist work, reached out to Samaria Rice’s attorney, Timothy Kucharski, and told him that the fundraiser was a scam. He then laughed and bragged about it across social media before being permanently suspended from the platform.

Kucharski, not knowing who Johnson was, shut the fundraiser down, and then proceeded to take the money for himself and his law partner David Malik. Together they took nearly half of the money, at least $23,721.94, for themselves out of the funds I raised for Tamir’s family, and then, to spite Samaria, put the rest of the money in a government account that she couldn’t access. More than anyone else, Chuck C. Johnson, and those low-down attorneys, did harm there. 

Here is the court document from Cuyahoga County Probate Court showing they seized the $57,817.23 we raised for the family.

Here is the document confirming that all of the $57,817.23 they seized was from the online fundraiser.

Soon, the attorneys that were terminated by Samaria would begin to devour the money for themselves. Timothy Kucharski first took $12,600 out of the funds we raised for Samaria. Mind you - his fees were supposed to come from any settlement with the city - not from a fundraiser designed to provide support and relief to the family. The other attorney, David Malik, took $11,121.94. This was unprecedented. I have never in my life, before or since then, heard of attorneys seizing money from a GoFundMe to take fees for themselves.

Here are the documents from the courts showing them getting those payments.

While all of that was going on, white supremacists were still spreading all over Twitter that I was stealing the money, that I had kept the money, that I was spending the money - when I never possessed the funds for a single moment. This entire debacle was detailed by local reporters here back in 2015. Included in that report are statements that I never had access to the funds and never received any of the funds. Again, if I touched even a penny of those funds, it would be a crime. And nobody would be held more accountable than me on this. Soon after this, Samaria fired Kucharski and Malik and replaced them with a local civil rights attorney, Walter Madison, and national civil rights attorney, Benjamin Crump. 

That same week, Crump replied to someone on Twitter, clarifying that the original fundraiser was legitimate. Crump himself had spoken to the family to confirm as much.

A month later, to the day, Benjamin Crump and Walter Madison asked me to spearhead another fundraiser for Samaria Rice because she had not benefited at all from the earlier funds I had raised for her. This time it was much, much harder to raise the funds. The case had carried on for 6 months and was no longer trending the way it deserved. I pushed all week, emailing and tweeting and Facebooking, and raised over $60,000 for Samaria on GoFundMe in this new fundraiser.

By then, conservatives such as Glenn Beck were parroting the lies that I was raising money and stealing it.

5 months later, in June of 2015, with the charge still being driven by white supremacists, I became the #1 trending topic in the country again, for “stealing all the money I raised for Tamir Rice.” Again, I never had access to any of the funds for a single second. The first fundraiser was stopped by bigots, seized by the courts, then hoarded by the attorneys who had been fired by Samaria. The second fundraiser was completely controlled by Attorney Ben Crump and Samaria Rice.

On June 24th of 2015, Crump again tweeted that every dollar I raised for the family, in the first fundraiser and in the second one, was “received and transferred to the estate of Tamir Rice.” At that point, I truly thought all of the lies would go away.

That was 6 years ago.

Is the theory that civil rights attorney Ben Crump made this up? It’s absurd.

In total, I raised about $120,000 in cash for Tamir’s family. It was hard work. I never received a penny from those funds or from anyone else - and would never expect as much. I’ve never been paid from Attorney Benjamin Crump or any other attorney or family connected to a case of police violence or racial injustice. I’ve never asked for payment. I’ve never expected payment. That includes every organization and company that I’ve ever worked for or managed.

Before my call with Samaria two weeks ago, I called and spoke to the law office of Benjamin Crump to understand what happened with every dollar I raised for her. After the money that the horrible first attorneys took, that left $96,278.06 remaining for Tamir’s family. 

Because of the arrangement with those first attorneys, instead of the money going directly to Samaria, it went to the court system. Then, instead of Samaria receiving all of the money, the courts split the funds between her and Tamir’s estranged father - leaving $48,139.03 for each of them.

Even then, the family didn’t simply receive those funds we raised for them in one lump sum, but the courts made them get it in smaller amounts at a time. I had nothing to do with the disbursement process, of course. If I had, Samaria would’ve received every penny. That’s who we intended it for. 

While the courts kept this money, Samaria and her children ended up in a homeless shelter. Can you imagine? The city murdered your baby, people have raised $120,000 damn dollars for you, and now you are in a homeless shelter. It’s unthinkable and unforgivable.

After I learned this, and they were moved into a home, I helped raise over $5,000 more for them from an Amazon wish list. Samaria sent me a thank you video back then through her attorney, Walter Madison. Speak to Walter Madison about this.

Later, from 2017 - 2019, at the request of Opal Tometi, one of the original founders of the Black Lives Matter organization, who had become a confidant of Samaria Rice, I helped raise funds for the Tamir Rice Foundation, I donated to the Tamir Rice Foundation, and was invited twice to speak at the foundation over the past few years. Speak to Opal Tometi about this. In my conversation two weeks ago with Samaria, she recalled these things as well.

From 2014 until early 2021, Samaria Rice never said a single negative word about me publicly. She followed me across social media. I was nothing but proud of the support I’ve provided. Then, 3 months ago, it all went south.

Tamika Mallory, who is one of my closest friends in the movement, gave a fierce 33 second speech at the Grammys. Here it is.

It was probably the single most fierce moment for justice in the entire history of the Grammys. I was proud. She wasn’t dancing or showing off somehow - she was literally calling for justice, accountability, and policy. She called out Joe Biden. She didn’t even smile or laugh. It was a serious, sober moment. That night, and for several days that followed, Samaria Rice called Tamika out, calling her all types of foul and ugly names. That week, Samaria began calling other people out as well.

But she didn’t name my name. Then, for better or worse, I felt I needed to defend Tamika’s honor and integrity. The attacks against her had snowballed into the #1 trending topic in the country and had grown to be personal and ugly. It was in this moment, after I defended Tamika, that the attacks moved from her to me.

Soon, this past March, I became the #1 trending topic in the country - this time, for “stealing $4.1 million dollars from Samaria Rice” - another complete fabrication. The tweet below reached millions of people and was retweeted over 3,000 times and eventually liked over 10,000 times.

To be clear, I never raised $4.1 million in the name of Tamir Rice or for any family impacted by police violence. Including the Amazon Wish List and the two fundraisers, it was about $125,000.

Secondly, I never “gave” the family anything. I never possessed a single penny raised for this family. Ever. The courts seized the money we raised in 2014 and her first attorneys took a good deal of it for themselves. The courts then split the remaining money from that fundraiser and the second one between Samaria and Tamir’s father and gave it back to her in installments of their choosing. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Samaria said “Shaun King raised all that money for Tamir and sent me a $60,000 check.”

I never did any such thing. I think she is referring to the viral tweet above from this past March.

1. That person literally made up the number of $4.1 million and pulled it out of thin air. Nobody ever even said such a thing until then.

2. Only $120,000 in cash was raised. It’s been well documented.

3. I never possessed it and never issued ANY CHECKS or disbursements.

4. Her first attorneys took 25% of it. And the rest, $96,278.06, she split with Tamir’s father.

5. Any checks she received came from Cuyahoga County and did not come from me.

THIS IS NOT MY OPINION. These are facts - with documents and receipts backing them up. But in an era where facts mean so little, so even after activists backed off of me raising $4.1 million, they still post this - another complete fabrication.

No, I’ve never stolen money from Samaria Rice - ever. I’ve never stolen money from ANY MOTHER. Not a single mother has come forward about that. Not a single person has shared receipts about this. All fabrications. That tweet above also went viral.

Again, these would be CRIMES. It’s not just unethical or wrong, it is an actual crime to do what people are boldly claiming that they are 100% sure I have done.

I need you to understand this - the original attacks against my fundraising came as a result of me being good at it. And they continue because it’s something I do well. But now, these lies have taken on a complete life of their own and have interrupted my life and work. And have made my family and I unsafe. Let me say this again…

• If it matters to you, I implore you to ask every person I name in here about these things for yourself.

• If you seriously think I’ve stolen a single penny from this family, I implore you to please file a report with the authorities locally or with the FBI, DOJ, or anyone else that would have supervision in this case.

• If you seriously think I’ve stolen a single penny from ANY FAMILY impacted by police violence, please report it to authorities.

• If you seriously think any of that is true, please forward your evidence to your favorite investigative reporter, and demand they do a story on it.

• Also, if you think any of this is true, please file a lawsuit against me now. I earnestly welcome it.

• Please invite a forensic accounting firm to investigate this and publish their results.

Instead, what we will see are viral tweets without facts. Because none of this is true.

Love and appreciate you all.

Shaun

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Shaun King is one of the most followed and shared activists and journalists in the world. In addition to being the Founder and Editor in Chief of The North Star, he also leads the Grassroots Law Project and the Real Justice PAC. A historian by training, Shaun King is the New York Times bestselling author of Make Change: How to Fight Injustice, Dismantle Systemic Oppression, and Own Our Future. Shaun’s daily news podcast, The Breakdown with Shaun King, has been heard and shared hundreds of millions of times in almost every country in the world and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere podcasts are heard. Shaun has been with his brilliant wife, Rai, for nearly 25 years, and they are raising their 5 kids in Brooklyn, New York.

Shaun King