Two Minneapolis charities are facing a lawsuit alleging that their leaders spent more than $2 million of the nonprofits’ money on luxury travel, clothing and cash payments to themselves and their families.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing husband and wife Sharon and Larry Cook, who run Les Jolies School of Dance and Real Believers Faith Center.
Larry Cook founded the nonprofit church Real Believers Faith Center, located in north Minneapolis. The lawsuit alleges that between 2018 and 2024, the organization spent $1.3 million — the majority of its spending — on transactions with no nonprofit purpose. Both Cooks were signatories on bank accounts associated with the church.
Those payments included more than $12,000 to hotels in London, $150,000 in cash transfers to the Cooks and other family members and payments to the Cooks’ homeowners’ association for parking fines and late fees.
Sharon Cook runs Les Jolies School of Dance, a nonprofit dance studio next door to the Real Believers Faith Center. The lawsuit alleges that about $800,000 of the school’s assets were misused between 2018 and 2024. That organization also transferred money to the Cooks and family members, a luxury travel company and payments to retail stores.
The Cooks did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an interview with KARE 11, they said the allegations in the lawsuit are “brutal lies.” They said all the spending was for nonprofit-related travel and purchases.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Cooks used nonprofit money to fund for-profit businesses. In one instance, Real Believers purchased a gas station next door to the church. Cook allegedly set up a for-profit corporation and funneled the proceeds from the gas station there.
Attorney General Ellison filed the lawsuit in early April under seal, and the court granted a temporary restraining order blocking the nonprofits from transferring assets. A court unsealed the documents this week.
The attorney general’s office says the Cooks have refused to answer questions and attempted to obstruct the investigation. Members of the office took sworn testimony from the Cooks in March 2025; the office says Sharon Cook dissolved Les Jolies weeks later without filing notice required by law.
“These acts constitute flagrant violations of Minnesota’s nonprofit, charitable solicitation, and charitable trust laws — as well as a betrayal of the communities that the parties were supposed to serve,” the lawsuit reads.
The Cooks have not yet filed a response in court.
