The husband of former “Squad” member and Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush has been charged with defrauding the US government out of $20,000 in payments under the Covid-era Paycheck Protection (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs.
In an indictment filed in DC federal court, 46-year-old Cortney Merritts is accused of filing fraudulent applications for Covid-relief money and using the proceeds for his “personal benefit and enjoyment.” Prosecutors say that, on April 3, 2020, Merritts filed an application with the Small Business Administration for an EIDL in the name of a sole proprietorship, Vetted Courier and Logistics. He claimed the business had six employees and gross revenues of $32,000 in the year leading up to the Covid disaster declaration.
One day after receiving cash for that application, Merritt raced back to the federal trough, submitted another application for an EIDL loan and an advance — this time for a sole proprietorship under his personal name. Prosecutors say he falsely claimed this business had 10 employees and gross revenues of $53,000 in the 12 months preceding the Covid disaster. That application was declined because the information on the application was nearly identical to what he put on the first one. Merritt also tapped the widely-abused PPP program for a business he claimed to have opened in 2020, saying it had $128,000 in annual revenue. The government says those statements were false.
“This case is being investigated by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General and the FBI Washington Field Office,” said the DOJ in a press release. Merritts’ attorney says his client will plead not guilty. “We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom,” Justin Gelfand of Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson told the Washington Post. We look forward to watching that too.
Cori Bush breaks her silence two days after her bodyguard husband, Cortney Merritts, was indicted for PPP fraud. https://t.co/XUuUkeAJ9y
— Andrew Kerr (@AndrewKerrNC) March 22, 2025
While she hasn’t been charged in this matter, Bush was previously embroiled in controversy and federal investigations relating to Merritt. Last year, the DOJ, Federal Election Commission and House Committee on Ethics all launched probes into allegations that Bush had misused Congressional funds by hiring Merritt to provide “security services” for her. Part of the controversy sprang from Merritt’s reported lack of security licenses in either Bush’s congressional district or the Washington DC area. The ethics complaint was dismissed; the status of the FEC and DOJ investigations is not known.
Bush was run out of office in 2024. It wasn’t her Marxism that did her in, but rather her criticism of Israel. Pro-Israel organizations threw millions of dollars behind an Israel-catering Democrat who successfully challenged her in the primary. “Cori Bush has been one of the most hostile critics of Israel since she came to Congress in 2021 and has actively worked to undermine mainstream Democratic support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” AIPAC told Associated Press. The AIPAC-affiliated but opaquely-named United Democracy Project spent almost $9 million to ensure that Bush was ousted. Democratic Majority for Israel chipped in almost $500,000.
Merritts is just the latest of many who are suddenly finding cops at their door almost five years after their fraudulent Covid-era acts:
PPP Loans… How is it that people are posting videos like this, getting arrested and sentence to come, but all the SCHIFF that DOGE is supposedly popping and no ARRESTS? America I think we’re still getting played. Until Hillary and Obama and Biden are in cuffs its all just BS. pic.twitter.com/imLVYa7AH5
— Imagine (@ArtArt39702737) February 17, 2025
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