Prominent BLM Activists Facing Federal Charges After Alleged $1M Scheme Uncovered by Police
That old white privilege problem still plagues the Grants.
It was right at a year ago that Monica Cannon-Grant, a major Black Lives Matter activist, was indicted along with her husband, Clark Grant, on 18 federal fraud charges, much of it related to BLM.
Now the feds are back, filing nine more charges, bringing the total to 27, a legal package threatening convictions that can lead to a lot of prison time.
A year ago, Cannon-Grant, blamed jealous black activists who “partnered with white supremacy” to bring her down, The Blaze reported.
In the latest, “superseding” indictment, the Grants are charged with “three counts of wire fraud conspiracy; 17 counts of wire fraud; one count of conspiracy; and one count of making false statements to a mortgage lending business,” according to The United States Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
“The new wire fraud charges center on alleged schemes to obtain and utilize pandemic assistance funds from the Boston Resiliency Fund for purposes not disclosed to the City, including for their own personal benefit, as well as to fraudulently obtain rental assistance payments from Boston’s Office of Housing Stability,” the attorney’s office said.
“Cannon-Grant was also charged with mail fraud, filing false tax returns, and failing to file tax returns.”
No word on white supremacy.
The recent indictment estimates the Grants took $145,269 in unentitled unemployment funds. But a year ago, the feds believed the pair took significant amounts of more than a million dollars they had raised.
The original, 18-count federal indictment accused the Grants of fraud against donors, falsifying a mortgage application and illegally pocketing unemployment money related to the COVID pandemic.
It was at least as far back as 2017 that Cannon-Grant formed Violence in Boston, a group designed “to raise money to reduce violence, raise social awareness, and aid community causes, among other purposes,” according to the March 14, 2022, indictment.
Clark Grant was listed as a director in the organization.
From 2017 to 2021, the pair “solicited and received over a million dollars in donations and grants from individuals, charitable institutions, and other entities,” the indictment said, using VIB “to personally enrich themselves and their designees” while representing themselves as not being paid by VIB.
In one case, Cannon-Grant, in securing a $10,400 grant for feeding needy children, allegedly had the department store donor funnel the money through the non-profit status of a church and then had the church write a check to her for the entire amount.
Almost a third of that $10,400 went to pay the Grant’s back rent; the rest was never reported to the VIB board, the indictment said.
In one instance in 2019, the Grants had less than $23 in their personal bank accounts, yet they booked a $1,200 hotel stay, and upon receiving a $6,000 grant to aid at-risk young men, took the $6,000 to buy for themselves meals, car rental, hotel time, and “$145 at a Boston nail salon.”
At the end of that spending spree, the VIB account was over $500 in the red, according to the indictment.
In 2017, a local Black Lives Matter organization made a $3,000 payment to VIB; Cannon-Grant transferred it to a family member.
A similar pattern allegedly continued for the next few years, with Cannon-Grant helping herself to incoming VIB donations. Among items donations or grants paid for were Uber rides, cell phone bills, Amazon purchases, and groceries.
In 2020 there was even a car purchased.
The Grants are alleged to have fraudulently applied for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds and even to have misused grant money obtained from a district attorney’s office.
In 2020, Cannon-Grant was named Bostonian of the Year and in 2021 she was designated one of the most powerful people in Boston, according to The Blaze.
It’s not clear how white supremacy entered into those acclaims. But it might be significant that a lot of thugs in BLM got off despite acts of violence. Yet, BLM activist Cannon-Grant has gotten herself in a lot of trouble.
Setting the streets on fire is one thing. Being accused of stealing government money is quite another.
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