News  Two Founders and Former Directors of Non-profit Violence in Boston Face Additional Fraud Charges

A joint federal-state investigation involving the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General led to additional charges against two founders of a local non-profit in connection with allegations that they fraudulently obtained pandemic relief funds and state unemployment assistance. 

On March 9, 2023, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Monica Cannon-Grant and Clark Grant, two founders of Violence in Boston (VIB). The superseding indictment included nine new charges, including wire fraud counts alleging the two defendants executed schemes to obtain pandemic relief funds from two city of Boston pandemic assistance programs and used the money for purposes different than what they had represented to the city, including for their personal benefit. The superseding indictment followed an 18-count indictment on March 14, 2022, charging Cannon-Grant and Grant with wire fraud, mail fraud and mortgage fraud for allegedly using the non-profit’s funds for personal expenses.

The superseding indictment alleges that after the Boston Resiliency Fund, a city-run charitable fund, provided $53,977 in pandemic relief money to VIB, the defendants withdrew about $30,000 in cash from the account. They allegedly kept some of the withdrawn funds for personal use. The indictment alleges they also used VIB funds to make payments on a personal auto loan and for auto insurance. The defendants also allegedly obtained $12,600 in rental assistance from Boston’s Office of Housing Stability by concealing their true household income. The superseding indictment also alleges the defendants submitted a forged document to the state Department of Unemployment Assistance so that a family member received $43,893 in unemployment funds.

Last year’s indictment and the superseding indictment resulted from a joint federal-state investigation involving the Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General.

The charges are allegations and Ms. Cannon-Grant and Mr. Grant are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. 

For more information on the superseding indictment, see the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.

For more information on the original 2022 indictment, see the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.