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The D.C. attorney general's office on Monday sued the founder of Raheem AI, a nonprofit established in the District to hold police accountable, alleging he diverted money to pay for luxurious personal travel, designer clothes and emergency veterinary care.

The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, names Brandon Anderson, who founded the nonprofit in 2017 and registered it in the District. The suit also names the nonprofit, asserting its executives failed to properly monitor spending and did not pay its only District employee a salary.

"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," D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb said in a statement.

Attempts to contact Anderson, who according to the lawsuit lives in Oakland, California, and a representative of the nonprofit, were not immediately successful. Public records shows addresses for the nonprofit in Northeast Washington and in California.

Envisioned as a way to track complaints against police departments, Anderson launched the effort after his personal experience with police, according to published reports and the group's social media posts. The nonprofit was the subject of a New York Times story in August that described allegations of wrongdoing.

The lawsuit says that since 2017, Raheem AI received more than $5 million in donations and grants. The suit alleges that Anderson diverted more than $75,000 over the past three years to "unexplained cash withdrawals, luxury clothing purchases, personal flights and car trips, food delivery services, lavish hotels for personal travel, and veterinary bills."

That included, according to the lawsuit, a subscription for a luxury vacation rental service that allows members to stay in mansions and penthouse apartments around the world, a trip to a Cancn resort in Mexico, and clothes from Bottega Veneta, Bloomingdale's, Saks and Alexander McQueen.

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