(RNS) — The Rev. William J. Barber II’s ex-wife has asked a judge to look into allegations that the civil rights and anti-poverty leader has been paying her alimony from the finances of his nonprofit.
Barber, who has been leading “Moral Mondays at the Capitol” to oppose the federal budget bill and was arrested as part of those demonstrations last month, is president of Repairers of the Breach, a nonprofit social change organization based in North Carolina.
In a court filing in in Durham County, North Carolina, Rebecca Barber, the preacher’s ex-wife, alleges that since November 2023, Repairers of the Breach has issued William Barber monthly checks for $7,000 to a joint personal bank account shared by Barber and his ex-wife, “under the guise of alimony or financial support.” Rebecca Barber alleges this check is above and beyond Barber’s annual salary. She asked that Repairers of the Breach be treated as a third party — like another spouse — in the Barbers’ ongoing dispute over property division.
Barber divorced his wife of 37 years in November 2024 after separating in 2022. The couple went through mediation to settle parts of the divorce, including alimony, in a process called equitable distribution. But the mediation failed.
Rebecca Barber then filed the motion to add Repairers of the Breach as a third party defendant.
“Defendant contends that Repairers of the Breach, Inc. is functionally an alter ego of Plaintiff and may possess or control assets that are marital in nature or otherwise
relevant to this Court’s equitable distribution determination,” reads the motion filed on May 14.
During their marriage, the couple had four children and also raised a daughter from William Barber’s prior relationship.
Beginning in 1993, Barber served as pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, from which he built a national following advocating for the poor. He served as president of the North Carolina state conference of the NAACP from 2005 until 2017. But he may be best known for reviving the Poor People’s Campaign, an anti-poverty effort bearing the name and the goals of the movement launched by Martin Luther King Jr. shortly before his assassination. Barber has preached at several Democratic National Conventions and delivered the homily at President Joe Biden’s inauguration prayer service in 2021.
In 2023, Barber took a position as founding director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School. He divorced his wife, a psychiatric nurse, the following year.
On May 3, he married the Rev. Della Owens in Wilmington, North Carolina.
RELATED: Rev. William Barber arrested in Capitol Rotunda after praying against Republican-led budget
Owens had served as an associate pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church and now pastors St. James Church in Wilson, North Carolina, a Disciples of Christ congregation, like Greenleaf. She previously worked for Repairers of the Breach providing Barber security and serving as his driver. In 2022, he presided over Owens’ installation service as pastor.
A spokesperson for Barber, Brian Woolfolk, told RNS that Barber denies the allegations and believes they are “false,” “unfounded,” and “without merit.”
Repairers of the Breach, the 10-year-old organization Barber founded, has hired a lawyer from the prominent North Carolina firm of Parker Poe to investigate the claim.
“We have no reason to believe that the claims have any basis, but there are serious public allegations against the organization, so we moved to commission an independent report,” said Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, who is chairman of the 10-member board and a frequent collaborator with Barber.
Wilson-Hartgrove said he first heard about the allegations from a reporter for WRAL News on Friday, May 23. The board then met on Saturday to discuss the matter and vote to investigate it.
Repairers of the Breach paid Barber more than $224,000 in salary in 2023, according to the most recent 990 form filed by private foundations in the U.S. That year, the organization had $8.2 million in net assets.
“We want to be completely open and if there’s any process that wasn’t exactly right, we’re certainly glad to acknowledge that,” Wilson-Hartgrove said. “As I’ve read the allegations, they seem to me to be extreme and outside of not only our organization’s policy, but what any organization would allow.”
In a motion filed Friday, Barber’s lawyer, Tamela Wallace, asked the court for a protective order against Rebecca Barber. It also asks that Rebecca Barber defray the costs incurred in connection with the allegations that he redirected funds from his nonprofit.
Repairers is planning another Moral Monday protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday (June 2). Wilson-Hartgrove said it would include powerful testimonies by people who have been on Medicaid their entire lives.
(National reporter Jack Jenkins contributed to this report.)
RELATED: Why we got arrested last week — and why we’d do it again