Boston activist Monica Cannon Grant and her husband Clark Grant were recently indicted on fraud charges for allegedly using money from their nonprofit organization, Violence in Boston, to fund personal expenses.
Prosecutors also accused the pair of defrauding donors of their nonprofit, committing unemployment fraud and lying to a mortgage lender.
According to Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office, the couple has been charged with “13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of conspiracy, and one count of making false statements to a mortgage lending business.”
Monica Cannon Grant has also been charged with one count of mail fraud and was arrested on Tuesday, March 15. She was later released on personal recognizance. Meanwhile, her husband was already charged by a federal jury for his involvement in an alleged pandemic-assistance fraud.
Everything to know about Monica Cannon Grant
Monica Cannon Grant is one of the most prominent social activists and community organizers in Boston. She is best known as the founder of Violence in Boston, a nonprofit organization.
According to her official website, Cannon Grant has lived in the Roxbury area of Boston for 17 years. She served as a candidate for State Representative for the 7th Suffolk District in 2016, but lost by 90 votes.
The 41-year-old also served as the executive director of the Tito Jackson Community Fund and was part of the advisory board for the Community Call organization. She is also a member and former chair of the Young Adult Committee for the NAACP.
Monica Cannon Grant is a follower of the “Our Community Our Responsibility” motto and established the Violence In Boston Inc. nonprofit with the aim of improving the “quality of life & life outcomes of individuals from disenfranchised communities” by reducing violence and the impact of related trauma.
The Boston-native also led the “Fight Supremacy” march in 2017 to protest the “Boston Free Speech Rally” and served as one of the leading organizers of the "Hands Off Our Pride,” a counter-protest to the controversial "Straight Pride Parade."
Cannon Grant is also a former Black Lives Matter activist who previously gathered nearly 55,000 people to protest the murder of George Floyd and other killings caused by police across the U.S.
During an interview with The Boston Scope, Monica Cannon Grant shared that she attended college for three years to become a nurse before beginning her journey as an activist. She garnered significant media attention for her role in the country’s racial justice movement following the murder of George Floyd.
In 2020, Cannon Grant was named Bostonian of the Year by The Boston Globe Magazine and Best Social Justice Advocate by Boston Magazine. The following year, she was ranked as one of the 100 most influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine.
What did Monica Cannon Grant do?
Monica Cannon Grant became one of the most prominent social activists in Boston for her role in the racial justice movement in the U.S. following George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
She gained further recognition for establishing the Violence in Boston nonprofit organization to work towards reducing violence and associated trauma. However, Cannon Grant and her husband were indicted earlier this week on fraud charges for allegedly using the funds of their organization for personal benefit.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office released a 38-page indictment and accused Monica Cannon Grant and Clark Grant of using their nonprofit organization “as a vehicle to personally enrich themselves and their designees.”
According to The Boston Herald, the latest indictment alleged that Cannon Grant and her husband were involved in years of scams and used “a substantial amount” of money from the funds meant for anti-violence and pro-services, for their own personal use.
The indictment claimed that Cannon Grant and Clark Grant solicited and garnered more than a million dollars in donations and grants from charitable institutions, individuals, and other entities through fundraising between 2017 and 2021.
However, the pair allegedly used the nonprofit cash to fund their personal expenses such as restaurant bills, car rentals, personal vacations, salon services and financing mortgages, among others. The indictment reads:
"Cannon-Grant and Clark Grant diverted VIB monies to themselves through cash withdrawals, cashed checks, wire transfers to their personal bank accounts, and debit purchases, among other methods."As an example of the alleged misuse of funds, the indictment cited that in 2019 the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office provided Violence in Boston a $10,000 grant for anti-violence work.
However, Cannon Grant and her husband allegedly used the initial $6,000 deposit to pay “$145 at a Boston nail salon, over $400 in grocery and Walmart purchases in Columbia, MD, hundreds of dollars in meal costs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland, including at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Shake Shack, and other restaurants.”
The indictment also claimed that the activist paid “$1,211 in charges at the Sonesta Suites Hotel in Columbia, MD as well as hundreds of dollars in fuel, parking, car rental costs and ATM withdrawals, among other expenses.”
Authorities even mentioned that Monica Cannon Grant and her husband started collecting pandemic-related unemployment benefits by stating that they did not receive any compensation for their work in the nonprofit organization.
However, Cannon Grant allegedly issued a $2,788 weekly salary from Violence in Boston and collected more than $25,000 in salary in 2020 and more than $170,000 in 2021.
The indictment claimed that the activist and her husband received nearly $100,000 in pandemic unemployment funds while the former earned tens of thousands of dollars as a diversity consultant.
Authorities accused Monica Cannon Grant of making alleged false claims of unemployment during the pandemic to receive benefits from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance:
“Cannon-Grant and Clark Grant used their fraudulently obtained PUA benefits to help pay for plane tickets, new furniture, Amazon purchases, and help defray the costs for a motorcycle for Clark Grant, among other household and personal expenditures.”The federal jury even claimed that Cannon-Grant allegedly took $3,000 in donations from the Cambridge Black Lives Matter organization “to feed needy children” but instead sent the amount to a family member.
Monica Cannon-Grant's lawyer Rob Goldstein told The Boston Globe that the indictment was rushed and that the activist and her team were disappointed with the situation:
“We are extremely disappointed that the government rushed to judgment here. VIB and Monica have been fully cooperating and their production of records remains ongoing.”The attorney also mentioned that deriving conclusions from records having alleged incomplete facts fails to provide a fair chance to a citizen:
“Drawing conclusions from an incomplete factual record does not represent the fair and fully informed process a citizen deserves from its government, especially someone like Monica who has worked tirelessly on behalf of her community.”Following the indictment, Monica Cannon Grant was briefly arrested before Judge Judith Dein released her on personal recognizance with several conditions involving her work.
The activist is currently restricted from applying for any loans, grants, or employment benefits and is also prohibited from working as an employee or volunteer that would allow her access to an organization’s finances.
Reports suggest that an arraignment related to the case will be scheduled sometime next week.
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