DOJ indicts Former Rep. Cori Bush’s Husband for COVID Fraud

DOJ indicts Former Rep. Cori Bush’s Husband for COVID Fraud

Oh. My. Goodness.

The Department of Justice indicted Courtney Merritts, the husband of former ‘Squad’ member Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), for allegedly committing COVID fraud while his wife served in Congress.

Merritts faces charges of wire fraud.

The DOJ alleges from July 2020 to April 2021, Merritts formulated and “participated in a scheme and artifice to obtain money and property in connection with applications for EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loans] and PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] funds.”

Merritts supposedly accepted $20,000 in payments:

According to the indictment, on July 7, 2020, Merritts received an $8,500 EIDL loan from the SBA for a moving business he operated that he called Vetted Couriers. In the application he submitted for Vetted Couriers, Merritts certified that his business had six employees and had generated $32,000 in gross revenue between January 30, 2019 and January 30, 2020.

On July 8, 2020, Merritts submitted another application to the SBA for an EIDL loan in the name of a sole proprietorship he called “Cortney Merritts.” In this EIDL application, Merritts fraudulently claimed to have a business that employed ten people and generated $53,000 in gross revenue between January 30, 2019 and January 30, 2020. In addition to an EIDL loan, Merritts also requested an EIDL advance of up to $10,000 based on his false claim that he had 10 employees. The SBA rejected Merritts’ attempt to obtain additional EIDL funds after determining that his July 2020 application was nearly identical to the prior one he submitted.

The indictment further alleges that on April 22, 2021, Merritts applied for a PPP loan in the name of a sole proprietorship he called “Cortney Merritts.” Merritts fraudulently claimed in this application that he had created this business in 2020 and that it had generated $128,000 in gross income that year. Based on Merritts’ representations about his gross income, Merritts received a $20,832 PPP loan. Merritts used the proceeds for his personal benefit and enjoyment. In July 2022, Merritts submitted a loan forgiveness application in which he falsely claimed that this business had 10 employees at the time of the PPP loan, and that he spent the $20,832 on payroll costs. Based on Merritts’ alleged fraudulent representations, the SBA forgave the PPP loan in the amount of $20,832 and the $254.03 in interest.

In January 2024, the DOJ started investigating Bush for allegedly misusing security funds.

The far-left progressive allegedly paid Merritts over $100,000 since Bush put him on her campaign payroll in January 2022:

Bush’s husband and former security guard, Cortney Merritts, whom she married in February 2023, has pocketed more than $100,000 in payments since Bush added him to her campaign’s payroll in January 2022 for what they marked as “security” payments before switching their description to “wage expenses” in April, Fox News Digital previously reported.

In March 2023, Bush was hit with two FEC complaints over security payments she made to her new husband.

One complaint comes from the Committee to Defeat the President, an anti-Biden super PAC, which alleges Bush has “flouted” federal campaign finance laws by paying Merritts $60,000 for security in 2022. Merritts does not have a license to perform security functions in the congresswoman’s district.

Bush’s campaign filed its committee report late in July but admitted her husband Merritt took $17,500 for security and expenses between April and June.

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.