Couple’s fraud case multiplies
New superseding indictment announced
Just as federal prosecutors promised at a June 2022 court appearance of the alleged fraudster Monica Cannon-Grant, they have issued a superseding indictment which elevates the 18 charges against her and her husband to 27, with an additional two allegations of additional fraud.
“We’re hoping to bring a superseding charging document before September, would be the goal,” Dustin Chao, one of the assistant U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case, said at the June 10, 2022, in-person hearing in federal court in Boston.
Cannon-Grant, 42, and her husband, Clark Grant, 39, were originally charged nearly a full year ago on March 15, 2022, with 18-fraud related counts that hinged on three distinct conspiracy allegations. The first is the misuse of donations to the couple’s charity Violence in Boston (VIB) for personal use, the second is the misuse of public funds — including the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program — and the third is alleged fraud related to the mortgage on the couple’s Taunton home.
The pair now face a total of 27 fraud-related counts in a new indictment issued Thursday evening: Three counts wire fraud conspiracy; one count conspiracy; one count mail fraud, aiding and abetting; 16 counts wire fraud, aiding and abetting; one count making false statements to a mortgage lending business, aiding and abetting; two counts filing false tax returns; two counts failure to file tax returns; and allegations of both wire and mail fraud forfeiture and mortgage fraud forfeiture.
“From 2017 to 2021, Cannon-Grant and Clark Grant, through VIB fundraising, solicited and received over a million dollars in donations and grants from individuals, charitable institutions, and other entities,” the new indictment states, and across 52 pages alleges misuse of much of these funds, often to enrich themselves. The other charges are to alleged misuse of public monies by using their charity as a conduit.
The new wire fraud charges come from allegations that the couple ripped off the Boston Resiliency Fund without the city’s permission or knowledge, including for their own personal benefit — including to fraudulently obtain rental assistance payments from Boston’s Office of Housing Stability.
That fund was set up to coordinate “the City’s fundraising efforts to support City of Boston residents most affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19),” according to its website, but is no longer accepting applications or donations.
The feds allege that the defendants received nearly $54,000 in pandemic relief funds into the charity’s bank account, they withdrew about $30,000 and kept much of it for themselves. They’re also alleged to have used VIB funds to pay their auto loan and auto insurance bills.
The defendants also allegedly “misrepresented their actual household income to obtain rent relief funds that were intended to aid Boston residents who were facing housing insecurity” by bilking the city’s Office of Housing Stability.
They “concealed” money in order to obtain rental assistance.
This despite, as the indictment alleges, that Cannon-Grant was paying herself about $2,788 per week as CEO of VIB, netting $25,096 in 2020 and $170,092 in 2021 from the charity alone. Clark Grant was also a full-time employee for a commuter service company starting in July 2018, according to the indictment This employment netted him a low of $22,026 — his first partial year — to a high of $60,850 in 2020.