BLM activist Monica Cannon-Grant, 41, and her husband, Clark Grant, 38, have been accused of collecting over $40,000 in unemployment payments.
They’re also accused of using a large amount of donation money to treat themselves to vacations, meals, and trips to the spa.
On Tuesday, the United States attorney general’s office released a statement, saying the couple was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, and one count of deceiving a mortgage lending business.
Cannon-Grant was also charged with an additional count of mail fraud, while denying all allegations made against her.
According to prosecutors, Cannon-Grant allegedly paid herself a weekly salary of $3,000, as well as purchasing a lavish five-bedroom home in Taunton, Massachusetts, a home that cost her over $500,000.
Cannon-Grant, who is also the CEO of an anti-violence organization, Violence in Boston, was arrested at her Massachusetts home last week, appearing in federal court on Monday alongside her husband.
Not the first time
She was released by Judge Judith Dein, on the condition she must not be involved with her organization’s finances.
BLM activist named ‘Bostonian of the year’ whose nonprofit raised $1M is charged with squandering much of it on rent arrears, $1,200 hotel stay and meals at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Shake Shack after being arrested at her $450,000 homehttps://t.co/TtRdPJahHE pic.twitter.com/fHYhB66RYS
— Jeanne (@scoobidoo76) March 16, 2022
However, this was not the first alleged incident involving Cannon-Grant recklessly spending donation money.
In one instance, Cannon-Grant and her husband spent a $6,000 check given to them by the Suffolk District Attorney’s office on rent. This check was given to them to aid young men who were high-risk of falling into crime.
Additionally, according to the allegations, Cannon-Grant and her husband also claimed a check for over $120,000 in federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. They were not entitled to this since they had other sources of income at the time.
Previously, Clarke Grant had been charged with embezzling an estimated $70,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits in October.
He also misrepresented the nonprofit’s assets as his own on a mortgage application, while being a full-time employee of a transportation company.
BLM. Where’s the money?
— Jimmy Salford (@1Fubar) March 16, 2022
“We’ve been caught!”
Prosecutors have also stated the couple exchanged text messages admitting to the crime.
Cannon-Grant says the following in one of them, “We’ve been caught by unemployment. We need to come up with some documents or they’re gonna force us to pay it all back.”
According to its website, Violence in Boston was formed in 2017 with only $1,000.
The organization had a steady flow of donations coming in over the years, receiving more than $40,000 in May 2020 and over $60,000 in other months from Boston officials, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder later that year.
