UNITED KINGDOM: "A Black Lives Matter activist in the United Kingdom has been convicted of fraud after spending nearly $40,000 in charitable donations on hair appointments, take-out food and other personal expenses. Xahra Saleem, 23, who formerly went by the name Yvonne Maina, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison, the BBC reported this week. Saleem helped set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Changing Your Mindset, a charity for disadvantaged youth, The Guardian reported. In addition to serving as a director of the charity, Saleem was one of the organizers of a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, England, in June 2020, the BBC reported. During that highly publicized event, the statue of a 17th-century slave trader, Edward Colston, was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour in protest of the U.S. death of George Floyd.

“After the toppling of the statue made headlines around the world, more than 500 donations flooded in,” according to The Guardian.

Rather than using the money to fund the charitable causes, Saleem “succumbed to temptation,” transferring the money into her own bank accounts and using it to pay rent, buy an iPhone and iMac, make purchases on Amazon, pay for take-out food and hair appointments, and use over $7,000 on Uber rides.

Saleem claimed to suffer from psychosis, “which stopped her from thinking rationally,” the BBC reported."

https://ijr.com/black-lives-matter-organizer-convicted-fraud-thousands-used-expensive-personal-items-services/