Chris Lieberman, FISM News
GoFundMe is allowing donors to give money to an Antifa rioter accused of helping to destroy a Portland Starbucks in a May Day riot last year, raising questions as to whether the crowdsourcing platform is unfairly applying its terms of services based on the recipient’s political leanings.
On May 1, 2021, Phoebe Anne Loomis was arrested as part of a group of about 100 Antifa members who attacked city hall and several local businesses in a violent riot in Portland. Loomis is accused of breaking windows at two Starbucks locations and a spa, causing over $1,000 in damage at each location. According to a police report, she was arrested with a metal bar, a helmet, bear spray, a gas mask, and gloves.
GoFundMe’s willingness to keep the page up for Loomis stands in contrast to previous decisions to remove fundraisers for Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal defense, as well as support money for the Canadian Freedom Convoy in February. Some would cite this as an example of anti-conservative bias on the platform.
Loomis was initially charged by Portland DA Mike Schmidt with one count of felony riot and three counts of first-degree criminal mischief. However, Schmidt offered Loomis a plea deal that included dropping all charges except one count of criminal mischief, which was reduced to a misdemeanor. Furthermore, the case would be dismissed if she paid Starbucks $3,610.75 in restitution.
One year later, however, Loomis has still not paid the restitution and is now facing prison time, prompting fellow Antifa members to create a GoFundMe page to pay her fee.
“Our comrade Phoenix [Loomis’ Antifa nickname] is being unjustly persecuted for exercising [her] right to protest,” wrote an Antifa member under the pseudonym Declan Hood, the fundraiser’s organizer. “The State is demanding [she] hand over thousands of dollars in restitution to the Starbucks Corporation for the crime of being vaguely in the area when one of the corporation’s stores was damaged. [She] face[s] jail time if [she is] unable to pay. We can’t let that happen.”
Hood goes on to say, “Phoenix has been a dedicated and engaged activist in Portland for years, putting [her] health and safety on the line to help others. We protect us. That means doing everything we can to keep an Autistic, non-binary member of our community out of the prison-industrial complex’s death machine.”
The page makes no mention of Loomis taking a plea deal or her impending conviction.
The fundraiser would appear to violate GoFundMe’s terms of service, which forbid raising money for “the legal defense of alleged financial and violent crimes.” However, as of Friday morning, the page remained active and had obtained more than half of its $3,000 goal.
This is not the first time Loomis has run afoul of the law. In 2017, she was arrested in another Antifa May Day riot and pleaded guilty to second-degree disorderly conduct. However, a judge later dismissed the case.