In the days and weeks after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May 2020, hundreds of thousands of people around the world opened their wallets to help his family.
His brother, Philonise Floyd, created the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund on GoFundMe with an initial goal of $1.5 million. The response was extraordinary. Within a little more than a week, the fundraiser had collected nearly $13 million from almost 500,000 donations, setting a GoFundMe record at the time.
By the time GoFundMe published its review of 2020, the company put the figure at $14.7 million from more than 500,000 donors. But that apparently wasn’t the end of the fundraising. According to an August 11, 2026 demand letter sent on behalf of three of George Floyd’s siblings, the campaign ultimately collected approximately $19 million.
Now, six years after the fundraiser was launched, those siblings say they want to know exactly where that money went.
George Floyd’s sisters Zsazsa Floyd and LaTonya Floyd and his brother Rodney Floyd have retained an attorney and formally demanded that Philonise provide a complete accounting of the massive fundraiser. They say they have repeatedly asked for financial information, believe they are entitled to a portion of the funds and have not received what they consider their fair shares…
Zsa Zsa Floyd, brother Philonese Floyd, attorney Ben Crump and LaTonya Floyd (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)
The Family Is Demanding A Complete Financial Accounting
A Houston-based attorney representing Zsazsa, LaTonya and Rodney sent Philonise a letter on August 11 requesting essentially every significant financial record connected to the George Floyd Memorial Fund. The siblings are seeking GoFundMe reports and transaction histories, bank and financial statements, tax filings and documentation showing how the donations were ultimately distributed.
The letter gave Philonise 20 days from receipt to turn over the records. The siblings maintain that they have requested an accounting before without receiving the documentation they were seeking, and their attorney expressed hope that the matter could be resolved amicably.
The siblings say they are heirs or beneficiaries of George Floyd and believe they have not received their proper portions of the fundraiser. They also told TMZ that they reached out to civil rights attorney Ben Crump seeking answers but did not receive a response.
Rodney Floyd explained why the family is pressing the issue:
“We want to see the records, understand how decisions were made, and make sure the family’s questions are answered. We’re speaking up because transparency matters.”
What Was The Money Supposed To Pay For?
When Philonise created the fundraiser, he laid out several purposes for the money. Donations would help pay George Floyd’s funeral and burial expenses, mental and grief counseling, lodging and travel associated with court proceedings and other expenses incurred by the family.
Philonise also stated that a portion of the money would be directed to George Floyd’s estate for the benefit and care of his children, including an educational fund.
More than half a million people gave money with the understanding that it would financially support his family and children as they dealt with the consequences of his death.
Six years later, three members of that family say they cannot determine how all of those donations were divided.
The Siblings Say They Have Asked Before
The August 11 letter was apparently not the first attempt to get answers. Zsazsa, LaTonya and Rodney say they repeatedly sought records and explanations showing how the fundraiser was managed and how its proceeds were distributed.
According to the siblings, those requests did not result in the complete financial accounting they were seeking. That is why their latest request is so extensive: rather than simply asking how much each family member received, they want the underlying documents necessary to reconstruct the movement of the money.
That would potentially include records showing exactly how much money came into the fundraiser, where it was transferred, what expenses were paid, what amounts were distributed to individual family members or beneficiaries and what money, if any, remains.
For a campaign involving approximately $19 million, those are significant questions.
The siblings’ position is that they are entitled to a portion of the funds, have not received what they consider their fair shares and have been unable to obtain the records they need to understand how the money was distributed. Whether they are legally entitled to particular amounts, and whether every dollar of the fundraiser was handled in accordance with its stated purpose, cannot be determined from the demand letter alone.
Maybe the records will provide a perfectly straightforward explanation of where every dollar went. But that’s precisely what Zsazsa, LaTonya and Rodney Floyd now say they want to see.
