In absolutely great news for those wanting to see corrupt Democrats held accountable, the husband of former far-left “Squad” Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) has been indicted by the Trump Department of Justice (DOJ) for wire fraud. The alleged fraud appears to total tens of thousands of dollars Merritt fraudulently garnered through making fraudulent representations to Covid-era relief programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program.
As background, Merritts and his wife were already in hot water over the revelation made in January of 2024 that he had been receiving thousands of dollars a month from Rep. Bush in wages paid for by her campaign, ostensibly for providing her with security services. Those payments totaled well over $100,000.
In any case, the DOJ announced the charges in a press release on Thursday, March 20, that was picked up by media outlets and X (formerly Twitter) posters and personalities in the early hours of Friday, March 21. In the momentous press release, the DOJ noted that Mr. Cortney Merritts, the husband of former Rep. Bush, was being charged with multiple counts of fraud over his theft of relief money.
The DOJ’s stunning press release began by noting the scale of his alleged fraud and summarizing how he garnered the ill-gotten cash over 2020 and 2021, saying, “Cortney Merritts, 46, of St. Louis, Missouri, was charged today by federal indictment with two counts of wire fraud for allegedly filing fraudulent applications with the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021 that allowed him to collect more than $20,000 in government funds under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).”
Then, after noting that the Small Business Administration (SBA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and a US Attorney were involved in the investigation and just-announced indictment, the press release further described the fraudulent loans. Doing so, it said, “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.”
Continuing on the same track, the press release went on to describe other false claims Merritts made and loans raked in with them. It said, “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.”
The SBA then appears to have gotten somewhat wise to Merritts’s lies, as it eventually rejected another loan request he made. Described that aspect of the case, the DOJ noted: “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.”
"*" indicates required fields
But the fraud didn’t end there. Even after being rejected for that SBA loan, Merritts applied for an got a nearly $21,000 PPP loan under the Biden Administration. Describing that loan and the lies behind it, the DOJ said, “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.”
Concluding, the DOJ described how Merritts used the loan for his personal enjoyment rather than business expenses but then lied about how he used it to get it forgiven. It said, “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.”
Watch former Rep. Bush try to defend paying her husband a salary with campaign cash during a January of 2024 interview on MSNBC here:
Featured image credit: By Photo News 247, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92900980