Former Rep. Cori Bush’s Husband Charged With Wire Fraud

According to federal prosecutors, Cortney Merritts allegedly submitted false paperwork, which led to him being awarded $20,832 in PPP funds.

Cortney Merritts, the 46-year-old husband of former Missouri Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo), has been charged with two counts of wire fraud. According to an indictment filed on March 20 by interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin for the District of Columbia, Merritts allegedly submitted false applications to the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021.

According to Fox 2, the indictment is not in any way connected to Rep. Bush’s campaign or her campaign finances but lays out Martin’s case that Merritts “knowingly devised, intended to devise and participated in a scheme and artifice to obtain money and property in connections with applications for EIDL and PPP funds by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.”

Both the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans Program (EIDL) were pandemic-era programs intended to help small businesses cope with the stresses of the unique burdens thrust upon them by the pandemic.

According to federal prosecutors, Merritts allegedly submitted false paperwork, which led to him being awarded $20,832 in PPP funds. He later asked that those loans be forgiven, a request the government granted, in addition to any interest Merritts may have accrued.

Per The Washington Post, Merritts’ lawyers, including Justin Gelfand, said their client intends to plead not guilty.

“As with any indictment, this is only the Government’s version of the story. We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom,” Gelfand said.

Although the investigation into Merritts appears to have begun under the Biden administration, the Trump administration, which has positioned itself as an arbiter against corruption, seems to want to conclude it.

According to federal prosecutors, “Merritts used the proceeds for his personal benefit and enjoyment,” and the indictment is not connected to a separate complaint against Rep. Bush, which argued that her campaign’s employment of Merritts violated federal election law and was dismissed by the Office of Congressional Ethics in Fall 2024.

According to KRPS, the Department of Justice announced in April 2024 that it had charged more than 3,500 people with pandemic relief fraud, and then-Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated in a press release that the Department of Justice’s work was not done.

“Since I established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force three years ago, we have charged more than 3,500 defendants, seized or forfeited over $1.4 billion in stolen COVID-19 relief funds, and filed more than 400 civil lawsuits resulting in court judgments and settlements,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. “Our work is not over. We will continue our efforts to investigate and prosecute pandemic relief fraud and to recover the assets that have been stolen from American taxpayers.”