Mar 11, 2023
Boston BLM leader and her husband indicted on more than 20 fraud charges
It was 2022 when the activist pair were indicted on 18 counts in connection to alleged schemes to scam Violence in Boston, its donors, the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, and a Chicago mortgage lending business
As WCVB reported, Monica Cannon-Grant, 42, and her husband Clark Grant, 39, were charged on Thursday 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 by a federal grand jury. Additionally, Cannon-Grant was individually hit with charges of mail fraud, filing false tax returns, and failing to file tax returns.
The married couple are the founding executives of Violence in Boston, a purported "nonprofit" that aimed to create "social, political and economic change to communities across the world" until it permanently shut down in July 2022 after five years.
In June of 2020, Violence in Boston partnered with the local Black Lives Matter chapter to organize a George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmad Arbery that drew out "thousands" of participants, the outlet reported.
It was last year when the activist pair were originally indicted on 18 counts in connection to an array of alleged schemes to scam Violence in Boston, its donors, the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA), and a Chicago mortgage lending business.
One of Cannon-Grant's larger scandals came about in 2021, when Newsweek reported on the suicide of Massachusetts teen Mikayla Miller, who the BLM activist falsely claimed was killed by a group of white "cop kids," and also publicly named the girl's ex-girlfriend as a perpetrator, even though her parents are not in law enforcement.
When the ex-girlfriend of Miller's family spoke to the publication, they said that Miller and their daughter were best friends that dated on-and-off but had a tumultuous relationship, mainly due to Miller's troubled home life.
Hours before she was found dead along a trail with a belt around her neck, she had been in a "routine teenage argument turned physical," with her ex, who was unnamed, and some of their friends, Newsweek said. However, District Attorney Marian Ryan found that mobile phone data, surveillance footage, and toll data proved that the group of teens were not near Mikayla when she died, and the Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide.
Because of Cannon-Grant's public accusations, the case garnered national attention from elected officials and other BLM activists, including "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Governor Charlie Baker. George Floyd's family attorney Benjamin Crump even announced that he would be representing Mikayla's family in the non-criminal case.
Due to all the negative attention brought on Miller's ex, Megan Anderson "says her teen daughter has been subjected to doxing, character assassination and relentless harassment because of the false accusations floated by activists."
The charges of wire fraud conspiracy could land the married couple up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
For the other new indictments, WCVB reported that "the charge of making false statements to a mortgage lending business provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. The charge of filing false tax returns provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $100,000. The charge of failure to file a tax return provides for a sentence of up to one year of prison, one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $25,000."