Boston nonprofit leader who gained recognition for activism sentenced for fraud that ‘spanned years’
A 44-year-old woman who ran a Boston-based nonprofit was sentenced to six months of home detention in federal court on Thursday after admitting to using donations made to her organization to pay for personal expenses and fraudulently obtaining government benefits and grants.
Monica Cannon-Grant, of Taunton, the founder and former chief executive officer of Violence in Boston, will serve four years of probation in addition to the six months of home detention. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley ordered Cannon-Grant to pay restitution totaling more than $100,000 and an undetermined amount of forfeiture, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley said in a statement .
Prosecutors had sought an 18-month sentence for Cannon-Grant, who pleaded guilty to 18 criminal charges last September — 10 counts of wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts each of filing false tax returns and failing to file tax returns, and a single count of mail fraud.
Cannon-Grant and her husband, Clark Grant, were first indicted in March 2022, then again in a 27-count superseding indictment in September 2023. Clark Grant was killed while riding a motorcycle , and his charges were dismissed.
Violence in Boston, which Cannon-Grant began in 2017, garnered her widespread recognition for her activism, which included being named a Bostonian of the Year by The Boston Globe in 2020 .
While Cannon-Grant portrayed herself as the uncompensated director of the organization, she and her husband were actually using the money donated to Violence in Boston as essentially her own personal piggybank. Between 2017 and at least 2020, the couple used their control over the organization's accounts to make cash withdrawals, transfer money to personal accounts and make purchases using debit cards, Foley's office said.
Cannon-Grant also filed applications for grants that included "materially false representations," prosecutors said. That included using the nonprofit to apply to a fund established by the City of Boston to give aid to residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, from which she obtained nearly $54,000. After receiving the grant, Cannon-Grant withdrew $30,000 in cash and made payments on her car loan and insurance policy, Foley's office said.
Instead of reporting the personal expenses to the fund, Cannon-Grant claimed all the funds had been used appropriately, Foley's office said.
Cannon-Grant also hid thousands of dollars in income from Boston's Office of Housing Stability to obtain $12,600 in rental assistance, Foley's office said.
Cannon-Grant and her husband also defrauded the state's Department of Unemployment Assistance by submitting weekly applications for pandemic unemployment assistance, certifying they weren't working and didn't make more than $89 the previous week, Foley's office said.
In both 2017 and 2018, Cannon-Grant filed false tax returns. The next two years, she failed to file returns, Foley's office said.
"Monica Cannon-Grant's crimes were not a momentary lapse in judgment — they were a calculated pattern of deception that spanned years," Foley said in the statement. "Fraud disguised as activism or charity is still fraud. You don't get partial credit for stealing."
"Cannon-Grant not only stole from her own non-profit organization but did so at the expense of multiple public financial programs designed to help those truly in need. While Cannon-Grant personally profited from her own scheme, those in the communities seeking a lifeline from her organization had to go without," added Thomas Demeo, the special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office.
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