Federal authorities have charged a Black Lives Matter leader and her husband with fraud for allegedly engaging in a variety of illicit activities related to her nonprofit organization. Only days after the news broke that the couple was under investigation, authorities have arrested the activists, who are set to be arraigned in the near future.

Monica Cannon-Grant became a prominent leftist activist in Boston after the murder of George Floyd. She received accolades from several different entities after she organized rallies that attracted thousands of participants. She has a nonprofit organization called Violence in Boston Inc., which is dedicated to decreasing violence in the community by working with at-risk youth.

The Boston Globe reported:

In a June 2019 ceremony at the Suffolk district attorney’s office, Monica Cannon-Grant was handed a check for $6,000, a grant awarded to her nonprofit, Violence in Boston Inc., to take a group of at-risk young men to a retreat in Philadelphia.

The retreat was ostensibly intended to “give these young men exposure to communities outside of the violence riddled neighborhoods that they navigate daily” among other things, according to Cannon-Grant’s grant proposal.

However, federal prosecutors allege that Cannon-Grant, and her husband, Clark Grant, never took the children on the trip. They are accusing the couple of spending the grant money on themselves. The couple allegedly used the money to vacation in Maryland, eat at various restaurants, rent cars, buy groceries, and get services at a nail salon.

Law enforcement arrested the activist and her husband on Tuesday on charges that they used a significant chunk of the $1 million they received for themselves. They are alleged to have spent the money to pay for rent and buy a vehicle for a relative, according to the prosecutors.

From The Globe:

Cannon-Grant, 41, and her husband, Clark, 38, are charged in an 18-count indictment with three separate schemes: defrauding donors; illegally collecting an estimated $100,000 in pandemic unemployment benefits, and lying on a mortgage application.

The indictment marks the first time Cannon-Grant has been implicated in the fraudulent schemes and brings additional charges against her husband, who was arrested in October by federal agents who raided their Taunton home. He was previously charged with illegally collecting pandemic unemployment benefits and making false statements on a mortgage application.

Prosecutors claim Cannon-Grant reported to the IRS and state attorney general’s charity division that she was not paid a salary from her nonprofit, but paid herself $2,788 per week.

Cannon-Grant has repeatedly claimed she is innocent. On a Web radio show, she stated that accusations against her are coming from white supremacists and black people who are jealous of the praise she has received in the community.

Outside Boston’s federal courthouse, her lawyer, Robert Goldstein, said they “are extremely disappointed the government rushed to judgment here.”

The attorney continued:

“VIB [Violence in Boston] 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. We remain fully confident Monica will be vindicated when a complete factual record emerges.”

However, it appears the couple is going to have a hard time beating this case. The Globe also reported:

Prosecutors also alleged the couple received pandemic unemployment benefits while Cannon-Grant was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in “diversity” consulting fees from private companies, including $75,000 from a Boston media company that is not named in the indictment but has been identified as the Phantom Gourmet television program. The company couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.

Cannon-Grant received $33,426 in pandemic funds, the indictment said, while Grant collected $67,950 in benefits, even though he had a full-time job for a transportation company.

Prosecutors stated that Cannon-Grant sent a text message on March 26, 2021, which read: “Unemployment caught my ass. Asked me to provide documents by June unless I’ll have to pay it all back.”

To put it simply, this is not looking good for Cannon-Grant and her husband. Her contention that this is all some scheme cooked up by white supremacists and a group of envy-filled black people is about as thin as Taylor Swift on a Keto diet. This situation is shaping up to be yet another scandal for Black Lives Matter.

While most of the scrutiny has been placed on the global Black Lives Matter organization, there has not been much of a spotlight on local chapters. This story is not likely to make national news for obvious reasons. But if it turns out that other local groups have similar legal issues, it will likely be yet another step toward the cliff for the overall movement.