In the months after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Shaun King's nonprofit received millions of dollars in donations. The project aimed at reviewing prosecutorial injustices, however, the plan floundered, leaving King and his associates with hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation, reports The Daily Beast. King's Grassroots Law Project produced reports that have yet to appear in any public records. The Internal Revenue Service has not responded to queries about why the King nonprofit did not show up in online files. Lawyers of the Grassroots Law Project noted the agency has dealt with internal delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first year of its existence, the organization collected more than $6.67 million, additionally, Federal Election Commission records show that two political committees connected to King have poured close to half a million dollars into the organization. The project received publicity and fanfare when it was announced in early 2020. Yet, two years later, its online pages have appeared stagnant. The Boston district attorney's office said that the project "unfortunately, did not get off the ground."
The nonprofit asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic was partly to blame for three commissions' failure to launch, stating that the initiative accounted for around $500,000. The remainder of the money went toward various policy pushes and campaigns for prosecutorial leniency, phone banking, donations and legal defense funds. King received $104,167 as the Grassroots Law Project executive director during the first 12 months. His compensation swelled to a quarter-million a year. Documents show the nonprofit paid a consulting firm that handles the group's financials, the Social Practice. Later it emerged that the Social Practice was also on the payroll of Philadelphian Larry Krasner's district attorney campaign at the same time the prosecutor got in trouble with Philadelphia authorities for coordinating with King's PAC and failing to report it. Most recently, records show that the Social Practice has received a combined $940,812.20 from the Grassroots Law Project.
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