The husband of former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO.) Allegedly, taxpayers from more than $ 20,000 have taken in a COVID loan schedule and uses the money for his “personal benefit and pleasure”, according to the DC US Attorney’s Office.
Cortney Merritts, 46, was charged on Thursday in a federal indictment with two counts of wire fraud with regard to alleged fraudulent applications that he submitted to the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021 with which he enabled himself to collect and never returned economic lending funds lending funds lending funds lending funds lending funds lenders lenders lenders lenders lending funds lending PayCheck Program (PPP).
Merritts received an EIDL loan of $ 8,500 from the SBA for his moving company in July 2020 after he had certified that his company, couriers, had six employees and generated $ 32,000 in gross income, according to the indictment.
The day after receiving the EIDL loan, Merritts submitted a different application to SBA via the same program for another company, which he only identified as “Courtney Merritts” and claimed that it employed ten people and generated $ 53,000 in income.
The spouse of the former congress woman also asked for an EIDL advance of up to $ 10,000 based on the number of employees who worked “Courtney Merritts”.
SBA rejected Merritts’ applications after he decided that the documents were “almost identical” for the earlier he submitted.
The DC US Attorney’s Office, led by Ed Martin, claims that Merits Loog about the number of employees he had and his income in the rejected applications.
Almost a year later, in April 2021, Merritts again sought taxpayer money in the form of a PPP loan for “Cortney Merritts.”
This time he claimed that the company was founded in 2020 and that year generated $ 128,000 in gross income.
But those claims were also fraudulent, according to the indictment.
However, the application from the St. Louis Man was not rejected and he received a loan of $ 20,832 ppp.
“Merritts used the proceeds for his personal benefit and pleasure,” said Federal Public Prosecutors.
The indictment contained no details about what exactly he blown through the money.
“Based on the alleged fraudulent statements from Merritts, the SBA forgave the PPP loan for an amount of $ 20,832 and the interest rate of $ 254.03,” added the DC US Attorney office.
A lawyer for Merritts told the Washington Post that his client intends not to argue.
“We look forward to litigating this case in court,” Justin Gelfand told the outlet.
Bush, the former extreme left ‘team’ congressman who lost its 1st district seat in the Missouri elections, is not accused of misconduct in the indictment.
In 2023, Bush was beaten with a federal election committee and a complaint from Congresethics about money that her campaign Merritts paid to offer safety – although he did not have the required license.
The “Defund The Police” movement reportedly “used campaign funds for personal use” when she picked $ 60,000 for the services of Merritts in 2022, which Bush later married in February 2023, according to the non -party -related accountability and Civic Trust (fact).
At the same time, the Bush campaign Merritts paid for security, it spent more than $ 225,000 on a company called Peace Security and $ 50,000 in St. Louis to another guard called Nathaniel Davis, according to records of the Federal Election Commission.
The Ministry of Justice reportedly investigated Bush last year on its use of money intended for members of the congress and the candidates to issue private security.
The status of the investigation is unknown and the former conferrain woman has not been charged.
