Benjamin Crump Net Worth

What is Benjamin Crump's Net Worth?

Benjamin Crump is an American attorney, author, civil rights advocate, and media personality who has a net worth of $15 million. Ben Crump is best known for representing the families of Black Americans whose deaths or injuries became national symbols of police violence, racial discrimination, and unequal treatment under the law. His clients have included the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tyre Nichols, and Sonya Massey.

Crump has also represented residents affected by the Flint water crisis, the family of Henrietta Lacks, victims of mass shootings, consumers in product-liability cases, and plaintiffs in banking, employment, and housing discrimination lawsuits. His ability to combine litigation with media strategy has made him one of the most recognizable lawyers in the United States.

Through Ben Crump Law, Crump handles civil rights, wrongful-death, catastrophic-injury, medical-malpractice, class-action, and mass-tort cases. Many are accepted on a contingency basis, meaning the firm receives a percentage of a settlement or judgment rather than charging clients upfront.

Early Life and Education

Benjamin Lloyd Crump was born on October 10, 1969, in Lumberton, North Carolina. He grew up in a large extended family and was primarily raised by his mother, Helen, who worked several jobs.

Crump moved to Florida and attended Florida State University. While earning his undergraduate degree, he became involved in student government and served as the first Black president of the university's student body. He received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice before earning his law degree from the Florida State University College of Law.

After being admitted to the Florida Bar, Crump began practicing in Tallahassee. He became partners with attorney Daryl Parks in the firm Parks & Crump, building a practice around personal injury, wrongful death, and civil rights.

Early Civil Rights Cases

Crump gained wider attention through cases involving Black children and young adults whose deaths initially received limited public scrutiny. He represented the family of Martin Lee Anderson, a teenager who died after being beaten by guards at a Florida boot camp in 2006. Video of the incident helped generate national outrage and resulted in a multimillion-dollar settlement.

He also represented the family of Kendrick Johnson, a Georgia teenager found dead inside a rolled-up gym mat, and the family of Robbie Tolan, who was shot by a police officer outside his Texas home after being mistakenly suspected of stealing a vehicle.

These cases established the strategy that later became associated with Crump: place the victim's name and story before the public, challenge the initial official narrative, and pursue civil compensation even when criminal prosecution appears unlikely.

Trayvon Martin

Crump became a nationally known figure after representing the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old who was fatally shot by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, in 2012.

Zimmerman was not immediately arrested, leading Crump and Martin's parents to organize press conferences, interviews, rallies, and demands for an independent investigation. The case became a national debate over race, self-defense laws, and the treatment of Black victims by the criminal justice system.

Zimmerman was eventually charged and later acquitted. Although the criminal verdict disappointed Martin's family, the case transformed Crump into a leading advocate for families confronting police departments, prosecutors, municipalities, and powerful institutions.

George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Other Major Cases

Crump represented the family of Michael Brown after Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. He later represented the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old shot by a Cleveland police officer, and the family of Stephon Clark, who was killed in his grandmother's backyard in Sacramento.

In 2020, Crump represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. Floyd's death beneath the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin triggered worldwide protests. The city of Minneapolis agreed to a $27 million civil settlement with Floyd's family.

Louisville agreed to pay Breonna Taylor's family $12 million and implement police reforms after officers killed her during a raid on her apartment. Crump was also part of the legal effort surrounding the prosecution of the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery while he was jogging in Georgia.

His later clients included the families of Tyre Nichols, Sonya Massey, Botham Jean, Daunte Wright, Keenan Anderson, and U.S. Air Force member Roger Fortson.

Flint, Henrietta Lacks, and Corporate Litigation

Crump's practice extends beyond police misconduct. He represented children and families exposed to contaminated water in Flint, Michigan, as part of litigation that produced a settlement exceeding $600 million.

He also represented descendants of Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were taken without her informed consent in 1951 and became one of the most widely used cell lines in medical research. The family reached a confidential settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Other cases have involved pharmaceutical products, talcum powder, banking discrimination, workplace discrimination, environmental hazards, mass shootings, and the Astroworld music festival disaster.

Books and Media

Crump published "Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People," which examines racial inequality in policing, health care, and the justice system.

His work was the subject of the 2022 Netflix documentary "Civil: Ben Crump." The film followed his representation of families including those of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor while also examining his family life and public advocacy.

Crump has frequently appeared as a legal analyst and commentator. He was included in the Time 100 list of the world's most influential people and in Forbes' list of America's leading lawyers. In 2023, St. Thomas University renamed its law school the Benjamin L. Crump College of Law.

Personal Life

Ben Crump is married to Genae Angelique Crump. They have a daughter and have also helped raise younger relatives. The family has remained based in Tallahassee, where Crump began his legal career and established his principal law office.

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