New England's most prominent exponent of the Black Lives Matter movement is facing charges of bilking donors and using charity funds for personal gain.  The highest-profile race activist in Boston, Monica Cannon-Grant, has been indicted by the U.S. attorney in Boston on 18 counts:

[W]ith two counts of wire fraud conspiracy; one count of conspiracy; 13 counts of wire fraud; and one count of making false statements to a mortgage lending business. The indictment also charges Cannon-Grant with one count of mail fraud.

YouTube screen grab.

Cannon-Grant founded a group called Violence in Boston (VIB) before the George Floyd death in police custody.  That event and the riots that followed propelled her and her group into the stratosphere of prominence and Beantown, with accompanying honors from the progressive media and plenty of cash from suckers donors.

The Boston Herald reports:

Cannon-Grant has associated herself repeatedly with U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley's campaign, which says she never worked there and declined to comment further. VIB has gotten financial support from various elected officials, with City Councilor Julia Mejia, whose office didn't respond to a request for comment, giving by far the most at $1,235.

Cannon-Grant's profile particularly soared during the racial-justice protests of summer 2020, when she organized a massive rally in Franklin Park in which she yelled "(Expletive) the police." The donations poured in — as did glowing profiles, with The Boston Globe naming her a "Bostonian of the Year" and Boston Magazine "2020 Best Social Justice Advocate."

But the news stories turned sour. Local conservative newsblog TB Daily News put out a series of reports on Violence in Boston's financial dealings and grant receipts — topics that the indictment touched heavily on. And Cannon-Grant further fueled the fire with several outlandish statements that generated immediate blowback, such as baselessly claiming that a teen was lynched in Hopkinton and going after a Black Republican's interracial relationship.

The Boston Globe, which had previously named her "Bostonian of the Year," provides this example of her shenanigans:

In a June 2019 ceremony at the Suffolk district attorney's office, Monica Cannon-Grant was handed a check for $6,000, a grant awarded to her nonprofit, Violence in Boston Inc., to take a group of at-risk young men to a retreat in Philadelphia.

The trip was meant "to give these young men exposure to communities outside of the violence riddled neighborhoods that they navigate daily" and focus on community-building activities and coping skills, according to her grant proposal.

But the trip never happened, federal prosecutors say. Instead, they allege, Cannon-Grant and her husband, Clark Grant, spent the grant money on themselves — taking a vacation to Maryland, dining at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Shake Shack, and other restaurants, and paying for car rentals, groceries, Walmart purchases, and visits to a Boston nail salon.

The Globe doesn't mention it, but the Suffolk County D.A. who made the award to Cannon-Grant was Rachel Rollins, who was appointed the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts.  Howie Carr of the Boston Herald, in a priceless must-read column on the indictment, points out:

Given all the million bucks Monica is accused of scamming, six grand is a drop in the bucket. Monica's problem is that now Rollins is the U.S. attorney. It's one thing to steal money from some random mark, it's another thing altogether to pick the pocket of somebody who can arrest you. From the indictment:

On page seven, we have an incredibly detailed account of how Monica squandered the dough she swindled out of Rachael Rollins:

"… for, among other things, $145 at a Boston nail salon; over $400 in grocery and Walmart purchases in Columbia, MD; hundreds of dollars in meals costs in Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland, including at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Shake Shack, and other restaurants; $1,211 in charges at the Sonesta Suites, Columbia, MD; hundreds of dollars in fuel, parking and car rental costs; and hundreds of dollars in ATM withdrawals…."

Monica was supposed to be leading a "retreat" for "at risk young men" (read: thugs) from Roxbury. Later, when one of her typical gullible sugar-mommies (the Cambridge Women's Organization) asked Monica why she hadn't replied to any of their e-mails during that month, she replied:

"I was on vacation."

Howie also takes well deserved pokes at the Boston establishmentarians that rushed to honor her:

Is Monica still the Boston Globe's "Bostonian of the Year?"

Does Boston Magazine still think she's "the best social justice advocate in Boston?"

Do the Boston Celtics still consider her "a hero among us?"

Does the Boston City Council still offer her "congratulations" after her 18-count indictment?

Does the Roxbury Unity Community still consider her a "Leader of Tomorrow?"

Of all the slobbering, the Globe is probably most responsible for enabling this alleged million-dollar flim-flam to fester for so long.

Remember the Globe's front-page profile, by two of their crack scribes, describing her as both "a firecracker and a mother bear" who "leads change."

The Globe is owned by the same pampered puke who owns the Boston Red Sox. You know that big banner at Fenway Park facing the Turnpike extension: "Black Lives Matter."

By Opening Day, I want to see that BLM banner replaced with a new one:

"Free Monica Cannon-Grant."

Of course, legally, Cannon-Grant and her husband are innocent until found guilty in a court of law.  But am I the only person who sees a pattern of airhead virtue-signaling progressives getting fleeced by hustlers cashing in on the moral panic that followed the George Floyd riots?