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Boston BLM Activist and Husband Indicted on Federal Fraud Charges

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4 years ago

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Black Lives Matter activist and her husband are facing federal fraud and conspiracy charges after allegedly using a nonprofit they founded to scam at least $185,000 from donors, federal authorities announced Tuesday.

Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband, Clark Grant, allegedly used money from their nonprofit, Violence in Boston, to pay for rent, shopping sprees, hotels, car rentals, auto repairs, meal deliveries, and a summer vacation trip to Maryland, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

The couple was charged in an 18-count indictment with two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of conspiracy, 13 counts of wire fraud and one count of making false statements to a mortgage-lending business. Cannon-Grant was also charged with one count of mail fraud.

Monica Cannon-Grant and her husband are facing federal fraud charges

Cannon-Grant was arrested Tuesday and released without bail. She will be allowed to continue working at the nonprofit twice a week but can’t handle its finances, the Boston Globe reported. Federal agents arrested Grant in October and charged him with lying on a mortgage statement and collecting pandemic unemployment benefits illegally.

Cannon-Grant’s lawyer, Robert Goldstein, claimed prosecutors had “rushed to judgment,” adding, “We remain fully confident Monica will be vindicated when a complete factual record emerges.”

“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,” Goldstein said in a statement obtained by Fox News.

The couple first founded Violence in Boston in 2017 with a mission to “improve the quality of life and life outcomes of individuals from underserved communities by reducing the prevalence of violence and the impact of associated trauma while addressing social injustices through advocacy and direct services,” according to its website.

Cannon-Grant was later named “Best Social Justice Advocate” by Boston Magazine and was one of the Boston Globe’s “Bostonians of the Year.” She is a prominent Black Lives Matter leader in the city, according to Fox News.

The Cambridge, Mass., chapter of Black Lives Matter became an early donor to Violence in Boston, giving $3,000 to the organization for its program to feed children in need. The couple allegedly transferred that donation to the bank account of one of Cannon-Grant’s family members, according to the indictment as reported by the New York Post.

The couple also allegedly took a trip to Columbia, Md., in 2019 using a $6,000 grant the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office gave Violence in Boston to take ten at-risk young men on a three-day violence-prevention retreat in Philadelphia.

The next year, the nonprofit collected donations of up to $50,000 per month. The couple withdrew some of the money in cash from ATMs or transferred the donations to investment accounts at the Robinhood and E-Trade websites, according to the indictment.

Cannon-Grant and her husband also allegedly illegally collected an estimated $100,000 in federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits.

The pair collected unemployment benefits while Cannon-Grant allegedly earned more than $27,000 in consulting fees for working with a media company on its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training and took home a $2,788 weekly salary from Violence in Boston, according to the indictment. Meanwhile, Grant had full-time employment with a commuter services company.

In March 2021, Cannon-Grant allegedly texted her husband that “Unemployment caught my a**!” Grant suggested she should have an associate pen a letter falsely stating that Violence in Boston’s headquarters was closed, according to the indictment. Though the associate did not write such a letter, the unnamed associate allegedly created a back-dated letter that Grant used to scam unemployment payments.

The couple also allegedly used the nonprofit’s assets to qualify for a mortgage to buy a home in the Boston suburbs.

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Bizarre Epstein files reference to Trump, Putin, and oral sex with ‘Bubba’ draws scrutiny in Congress

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1 week ago

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November 14, 2025

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The latest tranche of emails from the estate of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein includes one that contains what appear to be references to President Donald Trump allegedly performing oral sex, raising questions the committee cannot answer until the Department of Justice turns over records it has withheld, says U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Garcia insists the Trump White House is helping block them.

In a Friday afternoon interview with The Advocate, the out California lawmaker responded to a 2018 exchange, which was included in the emails released, between Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark Epstein. In that message, Mark wrote that because Jeffrey Epstein had said he was with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, he should “ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.”

“Bubba” is a nickname former President Bill Clinton has been known by; however, the email does not clarify who Mark Epstein meant, and the context remains unclear.

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USDA head says ‘everyone’ on SNAP will now have to reapply

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1 week ago

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November 14, 2025

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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud.

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re going to find?” she asked during a Thursday appearance on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it,” she added.

Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States. “

Earlier this month, food stamps were threatened amid the government shutdown as the Trump administration argued against using contingency funds to fuel the welfare program.

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Trump orders Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

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1 week ago

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November 14, 2025

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NEW YORK (AP) — Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.

Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.

Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”

In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.

It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.

None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimes

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