A notable Boston community activist, who founded a nonprofit aimed at reducing violence, has managed to avoid prison time following a federal fraud case, according to an announcement from the Justice Department on Thursday.
Monica Cannon Grant, aged 44, entered a guilty plea in September 2025 for 18 out of 27 charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, and failure to file tax returns. This was related to a scheme where she and her late husband, Clark Grant, allegedly misappropriated thousands of dollars donated to nonprofit organizations.
On Thursday, she was sentenced to four years of probation and required to pay $106,003 in restitution.
Federal prosecutors had advised U.S. District Judge Angel Kelly to impose an 18-month prison sentence.
“Cannon Grant’s actions stemmed from greed and opportunity,” stated Nicholas Bucciarelli, acting inspector general of the Boston Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
She and her husband faced allegations of misusing coronavirus relief and rental assistance funds from their nonprofit, Boston Violence, for personal expenses, as well as collecting approximately $100,000 in unauthorized unemployment benefits.
According to federal prosecutors, Cannon-Grant and her late husband established VIB, an anti-violence nonprofit in Boston that focused on increasing social awareness and supporting community initiatives.
Officials noted that the couple had received around $54,000 in pandemic relief funds and, allegedly, used some of the nonprofit’s resources to cover car loans and insurance.
They were also accused of defrauding the Housing Stability Department in Boston by misrepresenting their household income to secure $12,600 in rental assistance, as well as manipulating employment documents to aid another family in obtaining nearly $44,000 in unemployment assistance from the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance.
Prosecutors mentioned that Cannon-Grant had submitted false tax returns in both 2017 and 2018 and had failed to file for the years 2019 and 2020.
Well-regarded in Boston’s activist community, Cannon-Grant received several accolades in 2020, including the Boston Globe’s Bostonian of the Year Award and the Boston Celtics’ Heroes Among Us Award, during a time of heightened national protests following George Floyd’s death.
After her indictment in 2022, VIB announced a suspension of all its programs and plans for closure, yet its Facebook presence has remained notably active since then.
