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Feds expand indictment against non-profit founder and her husband; now also charged with defrauding Boston and the state out of pandemic funds

The founder of Violence in Boston and her husband, already facing an 18-count federal indictment alleging various types of fraud now face a newer, expanded indictment that charges they defrauded Boston city programs aimed at helping small businesses and tenants weather the pandemic, helping a relative file a bogus claim for pandemic unemployment and filing false federal income-tax forms.

Monica Cannon-Grant and Clark Grant were already facing charges, in an indictment issued in March, that included sucking money out of the non-profit, defrauding the state pandemic unemployment system and lying to a mortgage lender. Clark Grant had also been indicted separately in October, 2021 of allgedly filing for pandemic unemployment despite working full time for Keolis and using the bank account of his wife's non-profit to help secure a mortgage on a new home in Taunton.

They allegedly did not stop the pandemic unemployment payments even after the Phantom Gourmet hired Cannon-Grant and an associate for a $75,000 contract in 2020 to help that company clean up its image after co-founder Dave Andelman outed himself as a racist.

The US Attorney's office summarized the new charges against Cannon-Grant, who started Violence in Boston in 2017 and who raised $1 million in donations and grants until her indictment last year, and her husband:

According to the superseding indictment, the defendants allegedly conspired to use VIB to defraud the Boston Resiliency Fund, a charitable fund established by the City of Boston to provide aid to Boston residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. After receiving approximately $53,977 in pandemic relief funds, the defendants allegedly withdrew approximately $30,000 in cash from the VIB bank account, some of which the defendants kept. After depositing the COVID-19 relief grant check, the defendants are also alleged to have used VIB funds to pay their auto loan and auto insurance bills.

In addition, the superseding indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to defraud Boston’s Office of Housing Stability by concealing thousands of dollars of household income in order to obtain $12,600 in rental assistance from the City of Boston. Instead of truthfully reporting that Clark Grant was receiving pandemic unemployment assistance (in addition to his salary), and that other family members were gainfully employed and receiving pandemic unemployment (in the case of one other family member), the defendants allegedly misrepresented their actual household income to obtain rent relief funds that were intended to aid Boston residents who were facing housing insecurity.

It is further alleged that the defendants conspired to defraud the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance by submitting a forged employment document so that another family member could receive approximately $43,893 in unemployment assistance, bringing the total amount of fraudulent unemployment assistance received by the defendants and their co-conspirators to approximately $145,269. Finally, the superseding indictment alleges that Cannon-Grant filed false tax returns for 2017 and 2018 and that she failed to file tax returns for 2019 and 2020, failing to report tens of thousands of dollars that Cannon-Grant received from VIB and an entity with which she contracted to provide consulting services.

The new charges could theoretically land the two in federal prison for decades if they are convicted, although maximum sentences are usually only imposed on people with extensive records.

Innocent, etc.

New indictment (27M PDF).

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Comments

Their imprimatur enabled her long con. They literally did zero vetting before anointing her person of the year.

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Cannon-Grant's screed on interracial marriage, on the other hand, was out there.

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By the lengths some people will go through to move to Taunton.....

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No question, this is wrong and despicable, but there are people walking around who stole MILLIONS and not by double dipping, but by outright inventing false businesses and false identities. I would leave these folks for last. 145k is probably what they would have earned if the world wasnt shut down.

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Especially when this country has 1trillion dollars unaccounted for. Who’s really the criminal. Your country, your president, and your government!

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Anyone who followed her on twitter over the years knew that this was not someone politicians and the Globe should have been celebrating. Always threatened violence. I would love to know why she would get so crazy aggressive about anyone who supported Ed Markey over Joe Kennedy during that election.

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It's truly a masterclass on how to be the world's dumbest criminals.

"Unemployment caught my ass!". Perfect.

In all seriousness, these two thieving scumbags deserve all the time they can get. I feel bad for her kids, although they're probably better off without these two. It would have been nice if they thought of them before spending thousands at the Sonesta Suites, TJ Maxx and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, but hey, priorities. Hope it was worth it.

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Andelman complains about looting and the tone of the protests, not to mention the big exception from COVID restrictions that other worthy events like funerals did not receive.

He gets mobbed online as a "racist," has to pay Cannon-Grant money to get her to call off the mob.

Meanwhile, this is just one fraud perpetrated in the name of BLM. Didn't the head of the national org buy a house worth millions?

Very Bonfire of the Vanities.

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And to now see this very odd wine pairing...

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Conman-Grift is looking at an extended stay in Danbury while the alleged Associate 1 is opening a dispensary.

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Of course, if MCG is tried and found guilty, she can always say she's got terminal cancer to get out early and then become a lobbyist.

Like Sal DeMasi. Who proves every day it's a white man's world in America.

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I wonder if she is going to take a deal or continue to trial? She is arrogant enough to believe she will beat the charges , as she continues to blame all the melanin deficient haters and their black and brown sycophants out to get her.
Maybe her husband takes a deal and testifies against her?

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