An activist embezzled nearly $180,000 in donations at the height of the protest movement, according to court records
A US federal court has ordered a former Black Lives Matter (BLM) activist to forfeit $244,000 that she embezzled for cars, shopping, vacations and other personal expenses.
In a court decision published on Monday, a Massachusetts district judge ordered Monica Cannon-Grant to pay restitution. The activist rose to prominence in 2020 during the height of the BLM movement following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and was later named Bostonian of the Year.
According to court records, Canon-Grant founded the Boston-based nonprofit End Violence Against Women with her late husband, Clark Grant, through which she embezzled more than $180,000. She also defrauded local officials of more than $50,000 in pandemic benefits and rental assistance she didn’t need, documents say.
In January, Cannon-Grant was sentenced to four years of probation, six months of home detention and 100 hours of community service, after pleading guilty to 18 federal charges, including wire fraud and tax crimes.
The activist couple were charged in 2022, and the nonprofit was shut down by its board months later. Clark Grant died in a motorcycle accident the following year.
Other BLM activists and organizations have come under more intense scrutiny in recent years.
Last October, the US Department of Justice sued Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. As part of the investigation, summons and a search warrant were issued. “Other black-led organizations,” According to the Associated Press.
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