Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio revealed he sells Black Lives Matter t-shirts and other merch with liberal slogans to make money after card processors refused to work with him.
Tarrio’s secret business was revealed in a report published by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. He reportedly started an unnamed company that sells apparel bearing slogans like “Black Lives Matter” and “Impeach 45,” a blatantly anti-Trump message.
“We’re bleeding,” Tarrio told the newspaper. “We’ve been bleeding money since January, like hemorrhaging money.”
He reportedly came up with the idea after PayPal and Stripe refused to work with his businesses that were connected to Proud Boys. The once prominent alt-right organization started declining after Proud Boy members were connected to the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Their luck has only gotten worse since several members were arrested in connection to the riot at the Capitol in January. According to CNN, on Tuesday, defense attorneys for embattled Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean released audiotapes of other members discussing arrests related to the riot.
In the tapes, members can be heard worrying about going to prison.
“We are f–ked…they are coming for us,” one unnamed member said.
“Twenty goddamn years? Man, no matter what we do, they’re going to throw the f–king book at us,” said another.
Nordean is one of four high-ranking members facing conspiracy charges related to the riots.
The infamy connected to those incidents led to at least a dozen financial organizations barring Proud Boys from using their platform to accept payments for merch. The shutout effectively put the group in the red.
Tarrio’s business currently works with an unnamed card processor, but he told The Journal he is unsure how long the partnership will last. He intends to start his own company to eliminate the issue.
Good luck with that, dude.
