Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband Clark Grant, residents of Boston, were heavily involved in the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years. They had founded and operated a nonprofit organization called Violence in Boston (VIB), which had raised over $1 million with the stated goal of reducing violence, raising social awareness, and aiding community causes. With VIB’s partnership with BLM, they had organized a rally and vigil for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in June of 2020 that drew thousands of attendees.

However, just last year, the couple was charged with 18 federal counts due to alleged misuse of funds from VIB for personal expenses such as gas, restaurants, travel and hotel reservations, nail salon appointments, auto repairs and ride-share services. Furthermore, Cannon-Grant was accused of receiving more than $10k in grant money from a department store but spending at least one third on rent instead. Eventually the board voted to shut down the organization last July.

Recently federal prosecutors added nine more charges against Cannon-Grant and Grant in regard to relief funds during the pandemic. The two are accused of spending this money on personal items as well as defrauding governmental agencies by lying about their income when applying for assistance such as pandemic unemployment assistance (despite Grant having full time employment) or rental assistance ($12k). In addition, they are being charged with forging an employment document to secure unemployment benefits for a family member as well as fraudulently obtaining over $145k through various schemes.

These charges together could potentially result in decades in prison for both Cannon-Grant and Grant as well as fines up to a million dollars. The couple is collectively facing 17 counts of wire fraud; one count each of conspiracy and making false statements; mail fraud; filing false tax returns; and failing to file tax returns between 2017-2020 if convicted.