Cori Bush’s husband accused of stuffing his pockets with taxpayer cash intended for struggling businesses

Before Cori Bush’s Democrat voters denied her a third term in Congress, the former Squad member and Black Lives Matter activist talked a big game about fighting corruption. It turns out her household may have been a good place to start.

The former Missouri congresswoman’s husband, Cortney Merritts, was charged Thursday with two counts of wire fraud for allegedly filing bogus applications with the Small Business Administration in order to fill his pockets with cash intended for struggling businesses.

According to the federal indictment, from July 2020 to April 2021, Merritts allegedly “devised, intended to devise, and participated in a scheme and artifice to obtain money and property, in connection with [the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans program] and [Paycheck Protection Program] funds, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, with the intent to defraud and with the knowledge of the scheme’s fraudulent nature.”

Over this period, Merritts allegedly collected over tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds “for his own benefit and enjoyment.”

The Department of Justice indicated that the alleged scheme started in earnest when Merritts received a $8,500 EIDL loan from the Small Business Administration on July 7, 2020, for a moving business he ran called Vetted Couriers. Bush’s husband allegedly claimed in his application for the loan that he had six employees and made $32,000 in gross revenue between January 2019 and January 2020.

‘We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom.’

The next day, Merritts allegedly filed another application for an EIDL loan in the name of a sole proprietorship called “Cortney Merritts.” This time, he claimed to have a business that employed 10 people and made $53,000 in gross revenue the previous year. Merritts apparently even asked for a $10,000 advance on the loan. This application was rejected because the SBA indicated it was virtually identical to Merritts’ previous submission.

According to the indictment, Bush’s husband — evidently undeterred by the SBA growing wise to his efforts — tried hitting the government up for more cash in April 2021, applying for a PPP loan in the name of his sole proprietorship.

The indictment alleged that in his application, Merritts falsely claimed that he created the business in 2020 and that it generated $128,000 in gross income that year. He ended up with with a $20,832 PPP loan, which was ultimately forgiven by the SBA because Bush’s husband allegedly stated he spent the money on payroll costs for his supposed 10 employees.

An attorney for Bush’s husband said he plans to plead not guilty, reported the Washington Post.

“We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom,” said attorney Justin Gelfand.

While Bush was not mentioned in the indictment, she has previously faced accusations of misusing federal and campaign funds — in some cases for Merritts’ benefit.

The “defund the police” Democrat used her congressional campaign budget to blow $812,000 on suspicious private security services and paid over $150,000 to her husband, reported the Washington Free Beacon. Bush continued paying her husband $5,000 in campaign funds monthly for “security services” even after the DOJ launched an investigation into her expenditures.

A complaint filed against Bush alleged that despite receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from her for security services, Merritts had not bothered to acquire private security licenses in the St. Louis or Washington, D.C., regions. The complaint was ultimately dismissed by the Office of Congressional Ethics.

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