Cortney Merritts, the husband of former Democrat Consultant Cori Bush (MO) was indicted on wire fraud fees associated to the Paycheck Safety Program through the Covid pandemic.
Ed Martin, the Performing US Lawyer for DC, unsealed the indictment towards Cortney Merritts on Thursday.
Merritts is accused of mendacity on his functions for Covid Paycheck Safety Program funds (PPP) and Financial Damage Catastrophe Loans (EIDL).
Merritts was hit with 2 counts of wire fraud for falsifying functions to acquire greater than $20,000 in loans.
“Cortney Merritts, 46, of St. Louis, Missouri, was charged as we speak by federal indictment with two counts of wire fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent functions with the Small Enterprise Administration in 2020 and 2021 that allowed him to gather greater than $20,000 in authorities funds below the Financial Damage Catastrophe Mortgage Program (EIDL) and Paycheck Safety Program (PPP),” the DOJ introduced.
“In accordance with the indictment, on July 7, 2020, Merritts obtained an $8,500 EIDL mortgage from the SBA for a shifting enterprise he operated that he referred to as Vetted Couriers. Within the utility he submitted for Vetted Couriers, Merritts licensed that his enterprise had six staff and had generated $32,000 in gross income between January 30, 2019 and January 30, 2020,” the DOJ stated.
“On July 8, 2020, Merritts submitted one other utility to the SBA for an EIDL mortgage within the title of a sole proprietorship he referred to as “Courtney Merritts.” On this EIDL utility, Merritts fraudulently claimed to have a enterprise that employed ten individuals and generated $53,000 in gross income between January 30, 2019 and January 30, 2020. Along with an EIDL mortgage, Merritts additionally requested an EIDL advance of as much as $10,000 primarily based on his false declare that he had 10 staff. The SBA rejected Merritts’ try to acquire further EIDL funds after figuring out that his July 2020 utility was practically equivalent to the prior one he submitted,” the DOJ stated.
The Justice Division was investigating Cori Bush’s 2024 reelection marketing campaign after a authorities watchdog group, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Fee (FEC) to research marketing campaign funds of $62,359 from Bush to her husband Cortney Merritts for safety providers.
This can be a separate investigation and the costs unsealed on Thursday are unrelated to the safety providers probe. The standing of this investigation is unclear.
