Ex-Mrs. ‘Round Rev’ says ‘Round Rev’ paid her alimony from his nonprofit

(Ruh-roh! *Is THIS that Karma thingie we’ve been reading about?*)

The patron saint of the WRAL newsroom  – the personification of the Seven Deadly Sins, himself — appears to have gotten himself into one of those things Laurel & Hardy described as “a fine mess”:

Bishop William J. Barber II, the former head of the North Carolina NAACP who now leads a nonprofit focused on economic and racial justice, is being accused of redirecting funds from that group for alimony payments and other personal uses.

The allegations against Barber — an influential figure in state and national politics, who started North Carolina’s “Moral Mondays” movement and delivered the homily at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration prayer service in 2021 — were made in court documents filed this week in Durham County by his ex-wife as part of litigation over their divorce.

Barber denies the allegations, and the nonprofit calls them baseless.

Barber and his ex-wife, Rebecca Barber, divorced in November after nearly 40 years of marriage, court records show. They went to mediation last month in an attempt to settle parts of the divorce, including alimony as well as how to split up their money and other marital property, a process called equitable distribution. […] 

Wow.  If this woman survived 40 years of being married to THAT, she deserves hazard pay, pain & suffering or something like that.

MORE:

[…] The mediation failed. Now Rebecca Barber is asking to bring the nonprofit William Barber leads, a Goldsboro-based group called Repairers of the Breach, into their litigation over equitable distribution. She says millions of dollars in assets reported by the group should be fair game for her to take as part of the divorce. The group tells WRAL it believes her claims to be baseless.

Rebecca Barber claims her ex-husband “maintains de facto control over the financial accounts associated with Repairers of the Breach, Inc., thereby suggesting that Repairers of the Breach, Inc., is being used as an instrumentality of [William Barber’s] personal financial affairs. … Repairers of the Breach, Inc., is functionally an alter ego of [William Barber] and may possess or control assets that are marital in nature or otherwise relevant to this Court’s equitable distribution determination.”

William Barber’s attorney Tamela Wallace said in an interview Friday that the allegations by Rebecca Barber are false and motivated by a desire for money.

“Reverend Barber categorically denies [the allegations],” Wallace said. “We believe the claims were filed for the sole purpose of gaining a tactical advantage in his pending property division litigation with his former spouse. We look forward to having these false allegations addressed in the proper forum, which is the court of law.”

A lawyer for Rebecca Barber didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking for comment. Rebecca Barber alleges in court filings that in addition to the $225,000 salary William Barber has been earning from Repairers of the Breach, the group has also been funnelling him $7,000 each month “under the guise of alimony or financial support.” She also alleges that the group is paying a salary to the woman he married in the months following the divorce. […]

[…] Rebecca Barber’s court filings don’t accuse William Barber or Repairers of the Breach of engaging in criminal conduct. But she says her claims “raise credible concerns regarding the misuse of nonprofit funds, improper financial disbursements, marital waste, and concealment of income.”

Repairers of the Breach said in a statement to WRAL Friday: “The governing board of Repairers of the Breach is aware of baseless accusations against our organization in a civil property dispute between our president, William J. Barber II, and his former spouse. We have the greatest confidence in Rev. Barber and our organization. We trust the court to quickly resolve this issue and have no further comment.”

Repairers of the Breach had millions of dollars on hand in 2023, the most recent year for which its tax filings are available. The organization reported $8.3 million in the bank in 2023. Rebecca Barber said that the group’s bank accounts have been so intermingled with hers and her ex-husband’s bank accounts that it needs to be considered as essentially a part of their marital property and therefore subject to being divvied up as part of their divorce.

“Fair and complete adjudication of the equitable distribution and spousal support issues in this matter cannot be achieved without examining and accounting for those assets,” Rebecca Barber wrote in a court filing.

William Barber, who has led the organization for years, collected at least $224,570 from the organization in 2023, according to tax records. The organization reported about $5.2 million in revenue that year.

Prior to that Barber was president of the North Carolina NAACP and rose to national fame after leading regular marches of thousands of people in downtown Raleigh to protest actions of the Republican-led legislature, culminating in a prime-time speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

He also served, until 2023, as pastor of a church in Goldsboro where would-be Democratic presidential candidates would sometimes visit, hoping to boost their support among Black voters. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttegieg each came to Goldsboro in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary, meeting Barber and others at his church. […]