An activist had embezzled some $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 which she embezzled for cars, shopping sprees, 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 during the height of the BLM movement after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 and was later named Bostonian of the Year.
Cannon-Grant established the nonprofit organization Violence in Boston with her late husband Clark Grant, through which she embezzled more than $180,000, according to court records. She also defrauded local authorities for more than $50,000 in pandemic benefits and rental assistance which she did not need, the documents said.
In January, Cannon-Grant was sentenced to four years of probation, six months of home detention and 100 hours of community service, after she had pleaded guilty to 18 federal charges, including wire fraud and tax offenses.
The activist couple had been charged in 2022, and the nonprofit organization 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 Justice Department issued subpoenas and a search warrant as part of an investigation into Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. and “other Black-led organizations,” according to the Associated Press.
