Who's she think she is, a politician?

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all you can eat!

BLM activist named 'Bostonian of the year' whose nonprofit raised $1M is charged with squandering much of it on rent arrears, $1,200 hotel stay and meals at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Shake Shack after being arrested at her $450,000 home

A BLM activist has been charged over a huge fraud which is said to have included blowing a grant intended for young men at risk of violence on trips to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Shake Shack and a nail salon.

Monica Cannon-Grant, 41, is also said to have paid herself $2,700-a-week and treated herself to a $450,000 five-bed house in Taunton, Massachusetts, last year.

She is accused of using much of the $1 million raised by her nonprofit Violence in Boston Inc for good causes. Her salary jumped from $25,000 in 2020 to $170,000 in 2021.

Cannon-Grant - once named a Bostonian of the Year by the prestigious Boston Globe newspaper - was arrested at her spacious home last week. She appeared in a federal court Monday alongside husband Clark Grant, 38, with the pair facing 18 separate criminal counts dating from 2017 to July 2021. She has denied all allegations made against her. 

The couple are said to have misappropriated grants intended for their charity, including a $6,000 check given to them by Suffolk District Attorney's office in June 2019, intended to be spent on a retreat for young men feared to be at risk of falling into crime.

Instead, Cannon-Grant and Grant treated themselves to meals at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Shake Shack, and a three night break to Maryland that included a $1,200 hotel stay, it is claimed.  

Cannon-Grant is also said to have used some of the cash on multiple trips to a Boston nail salon, as well as car rentals, groceries and trips to Walmart.

The $6,000 retreat was supposed 'to give these young men exposure to communities outside of the violence riddled neighborhoods that they navigate daily' and give them exposure to activities focused on community-building and coping techniques,' according to her grant proposal. 

Another alleged incident in 2017 saw $3,000 of a $10,000 donation for needy children spent on paying the couple's rent arrears, it is claimed.  

Cannon-Grant and her husband also fraudulently applied for $100,000 federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits that they knew they were not eligible to receive because they had other sources of income at the time, it is alleged.

And they lied to a mortgage lender by saying Violence in Boston's assets were their own to help pay for mortgage fees and closing costs, prosecutors said. [Well, they were telling the truth here, so where’s the crime? — ED]

Cannon-Grant, 41, and her husband Clarke Grant, 38, were arrested at their home in Taunton, Massachusetts last week. It is unclear if any money from donations provided to Violence in Boston was used to purchase the $450k and five-bedroom property

Cannon Grant, a mother of six, was once given the 'Bostonian of the Year' award by The Boston Globe Magazine and hailed as the city’s 'best social justice advocate' by Boston Magazine

The couple maintained exclusive control over organization finances, and did not disclose to other Violence in Boston directors, bookkeepers, or financial auditors that they had used the funds for their own purposes, prosecutors added.

Last Tuesday, the couple was arrested at their $450,000 Taunton residence. It remains unclear if funds given to the non-profit organization were used to buy the five-bedroom home, which was purchased in 2021, at the height of their alleged scamming. 

Both were charged in an 18-count indictment with wire fraud, conspiracy, and making false statements to a mortgage lending business, according to prosecutors. 

Cannon-Grant also faces a mail fraud count. She claims to have previously filed to the IRS and the state attorney general's charity division that she has not been receiving a salary. However, prosecutors said that in October 2020, Cannon-Grant was starting to pay herself $2,788 per week.

And the standard “we look forward to her day in court” statement we’re taught by heart in Crim Law 101:

 Prior to Canon-Grant's arrival in court, her attorney, Robert Goldstein, said he expected her to be vindicated.

'We are extremely disappointed the government rushed to judgment here,' he said in an email. 'VIB and Monica have been fully cooperating and their production of records remains ongoing. 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.'