The executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City has been charged with 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering after federal prosecutors say she embezzled millions of dollars in donations.
Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, allegedly deposited at least $3.15 million in returned bail checks into her personal accounts and used the money for Caribbean vacations, six properties, and shopping sprees, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Dickerson “used their position in Black Lives Matter to steal donor money and enrich their own lifestyle.”
According to the Department of Justice, Dickerson served as executive director of BLM OKC beginning in at least 2016 and had access to the organization’s bank, PayPal, and Cash App accounts.
The group raised more than $5.6 million beginning in 2020, largely from online donors and national bail funds meant to post bail for individuals arrested during riots after George Floyd’s death.
BLM OKC was not a registered tax-exempt organization but accepted charitable donations through its affiliation with the Alliance for Global Justice, an Arizona-based nonprofit that served as its fiscal sponsor.
Prosecutors say that between June 2020 and October 2025, Dickerson embezzled millions from BLM OKC’s accounts for her personal benefit.
When individuals who had been bailed out had their cases adjudicated, bail money was returned to the organization. Instead of depositing the returned bail checks back into BLM OKC’s accounts, Dickerson allegedly deposited at least $3.15 million into her personal accounts.
The indictment says Dickerson used these funds to pay for vacations to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic for herself and her friends, tens of thousands of dollars in retail shopping, at least $50,000 in food and grocery deliveries, a personal vehicle, and six real properties in Oklahoma City deeded in her own name or in the name Equity International, LLC, an entity she exclusively controlled.
Dickerson illegally used interstate wire communications to submit two false annual reports to AFGJ on behalf of BLM OKC that “did not disclose” her personal use of funds, the indictment claims.
“The FBI is committed to following the money and pursuing bad actors who perpetrate fraud on the American people,” Patel said, later adding: “No one is above the law and we will continue to work with our Department of Justice partners to pursue every last fraudster responsible for this conduct.”
U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced the charges Thursday.
Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of wire fraud. For each count of money laundering, she faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transaction.
“I cannot make an official comment about what transpired today,” Dickerson said on social media after the charges were filed. “I am home. I am safe. I have confidence in our team.”
“A lot of times when people come at you with these types of things … it’s evidence that you are doing the work. That is what I’m standing on.”