From Fox News: The husband of former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, has been charged with defrauding the government after allegedly accepting $20,000 in payments from the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, the Justice Department said.
Cortney Merritts, 46, of St. Louis, falsified details about his purported businesses to obtain loans from the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
He was charged with two counts of wire fraud.
“Mr. Merritts intends to plead not guilty to the charges,” Merritts’ lawyer, Justin Gelfand of Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson, said in a statement. “As with any indictment, this is only the government’s version of the story. We look forward to litigating this case in federal court in Washington, D.C.”
Merritts repeatedly applied for business loans for a company he said he operated while also allegedly misrepresenting his revenue and number of people he employed, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Merritts filed one loan application in July 2020 that was nearly identical to another application he had submitted before.
This all comes about a year after the Justice Department launched a separate investigation against Bush. She reportedly paid more than $812,000 on questionable private security services from her congressional campaign funds, including over $150,000 to her husband.
JUST IN: Former Rep. Cori Bush’s husband indicted for wire fraud, accused of submitting false applications to receive COVID relief funds.
Shocker!
The development comes following a separate investigation where Bush is accused of paying her husband $150,000 to serve as her… pic.twitter.com/eVypHMLg2F
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 20, 2025
Husband of former ‘Squad’ Rep. Cori Bush charged with wire fraud linked to COVID relief funds: DOJ https://t.co/TPzGPFP0SR
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) March 21, 2025
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