Los Angeles ━ On Thursday, July 22 at 10:00 am PT representatives from civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-Greater Southern California, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, Grandmamas of Downtown Crenshaw, and local business owners will hold a press conference to stop the attempt to sell L.A.’s Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza to predatory developers being financed by a “crony of Vladimir Putin.”

The bid to buy the 40-acre mall has been awarded by Deutsche Bank’s subsidiary DWS to Harridge Development Group, a firm led by racist and failed developer David Schwartzman. The money partner behind Schwartzman was recently revealed to be Ukrainian-born oil oligarch Len Blavatnik, owner of Warner Music Group, who is on Putin’s List and has been accused of using his Kremlin-created wealth to buy Western influence and advance the interests of Russia. This is not the first time Deutsche Bank, the Kremlin, and Blavatnik have been engaged in questionable business actions. Deutsche Bank is also known for being a longtime lender to Donald Trump. 

“These bank friends of Donald Trump are teaming up with a crony of Vladimir Putin to try and gentrify Black Los Angeles through a racist developer. We will fight tooth and nail to stop that from happening,” said Rev. James Thomas of the NAACP. “The Crenshaw mall belongs in the hands of the people of Crenshaw, not a puppet of Putin.”

The press conference will take place at Warner Music Group’s Los Angeles Headquarters, at 777 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90021.

• WHAT: Press conference
• WHEN: Thursday, July 22, at 10:00 am PT
• WHERE: Warner Music Group: 777 S Santa Fe Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90021
• WHO: Representatives of the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-Greater Southern California, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, Grandmamas of Downtown Crenshaw, local business owners and Crenshaw-area residents.