Lawsuit Accuses Raheem AI Executive Director of Spending $75,000 on Personal Expenses, Including Luxury Vacations & Designer Clothes, While Refusing to Pay Employee

WASHINGTON, DC – Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb today sued Raheem AI, a nonprofit created to improve transparency and accountability in policing, and its founder and Executive Director Brandon Anderson for violating the District’s nonprofit and workers’ rights laws. Anderson used Raheem AI’s charitable funds for his own personal benefit - specifically to support his luxurious lifestyle - while the organization failed to monitor spending or implement basic nonprofit governance requirements. Anderson and Raheem AI also failed to pay the organization’s sole District-based employee the wages she had earned and required her to sign an illegal non-compete clause.

“Brandon Anderson misused charitable donations to fund lavish vacations and shopping sprees, and the Raheem AI Board of Directors let him get away with it,” said Attorney General Schwalb. “Not only did their financial abuses violate fundamental principles of nonprofit governance, but Anderson and Raheem AI failed to pay their employee the wages they had earned. My office will not allow people to masquerade behind noble causes while violating the law, cheating taxpayers, or stealing from their workers.”

Raheem AI, which does business as Community Response Works, is a tax-exempt District of Columbia nonprofit corporation, with a stated purpose to “empower communities to achieve greater police transparency and accountability.” It has solicited donations to “equip black, brown, and indigenous community crisis responders with the tools, training, connections, and funding they need to provide care.” Brandon Anderson founded Raheem AI in 2017 and served as a board member and as its Executive Director until April 2024. While Raheem AI’s board recently placed Anderson on leave and ceased operations, neither he nor the organization has restored the misused funds or compensated their employee for owed wages and damages.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) alleges that:

Anderson diverted $75,000 of nonprofit funds for his own personal use. Since 2021, Anderson repeatedly used Raheem AI’s funds for personal use: spending over $40,000 on a luxury vacation rental service that allows members to stay in high-end mansions and penthouse apartments, $10,000 on hotels and Airbnb’s for personal travel - including to a Cancun resort, $10,000 on designer clothing brands, and $5,000 on emergency veterinary services. None of these expenses furthered Raheem AI’s stated nonprofit purpose.

Raheem AI failed to properly oversee the organization’s finances. District nonprofits are legally required to have at least a President and a separate Treasurer to manage their operations and finances. Raheem AI has not had a Treasurer since 2020, giving Anderson unrestricted control of its finances. The Board of Directors also failed to implement any measures to oversee the organization’s finances, including Anderson’s corruption.

Anderson and Raheem AI failed to pay their District employee. Raheem AI’s Deputy Director informed the Board of Anderson’s illegal conduct, and Anderson was placed on administrative leave in April 2024 as a result. Though the Deputy Director continued to work after that, Anderson and Raheem AI have not paid her tens of thousands of dollars in earned wages.   

Anderson and Raheem AI forced their employee into an illegal noncompete clause. Anderson and Raheem AI forced their Deputy Director, who was paid under $150,000 per year, to sign a noncompete clause, even though noncompete clauses in employment contracts of less than $150,000 are illegal in the District.

OAG’s lawsuit alleges that these actions violate the District’s Nonprofit Corporation Act (NCA), Wage Payment and Collection Law (WPCL), and Ban on Noncompete Agreements Act (BNA).  

With this lawsuit, OAG is seeking a Court order to dissolve Raheem AI as a District nonprofit corporation, recover misused funds and direct them to appropriate charitable purposes, permanently bar Anderson from serving as an officer or director of any District nonprofit, award Raheem AI’s Deputy Director the wages she is owed plus damages, and award penalties to the District for each violation of the WCPL.

A copy of the lawsuit is available here.