The husband of former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, has been charged with defrauding the federal government after allegedly receiving $20,000 in pandemic relief funds, according to the Justice Department.
Federal prosecutors said Thursday that 46-year-old Cortney Merritts of St. Louis submitted false information about his supposed businesses to secure loans from the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021.
He now faces two counts of wire fraud, Fox News reported.
“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.”
Authorities say Merritts repeatedly applied for business loans, claiming to run a company while allegedly misrepresenting both its revenue and the number of employees he had.
Prosecutors said one of Merritts’ loan applications, submitted in July 2020, was denied because it closely resembled an earlier application he had filed.
His indictment comes a year after the Justice Department launched an investigation into Cori Bush—a former member of the progressive “Squad”—over campaign payments made to her husband.
Bush lost her primary last year following backlash over her criticism of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023, attacks carried out by Hamas terrorists.
The so-called “Squad” Bush formerly belonged to is an informal group of left-wing lawmakers in Congress that includes representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
As far back as March 2023, a government watchdog group asked the Federal Elections Commission to investigate payments to her husband for private security services, Fox News reported at the time.
“Bush’s campaign paid her now-husband, Cortney Merritts, $60,000 for security in 2022 despite him not having a private security license, which is needed to conduct such services in the St. Louis region. While Merritts collected the payments, Bush’s campaign also spent $225,281 with PEACE Security and $50,000 with an individual named Nathaniel Davis for personal protection,” Fox News reported.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust sent the complaint to Lisa Stevenson, the then-acting general counsel for the FEC, asking the commission to investigate whether “Rep. Cori Bush and her campaign committee may have used campaign funds for personal use.”
“It appears Rep. Bush’s campaign may have made payments for services that were unnecessary or above fair market value because of her personal relationship with the payee,” the group said. “If so, these payments would qualify as either impermissible payments to a family member or an impermissible gift.”
“Therefore, we request the FEC investigate whether Rep. Bush converted campaign funds for personal use by paying a salary that was not for bona fide services at fair market value,” it said. “Ultimately, if one or more campaign laws are found to have been broken, we request the FEC hold the respondents accountable.”
She allegedly made the payments to her husband even as he did not have a license to provide security in St. Louis or anywhere in Rep. Bush’s district.
“With the exception of St. Louis Police Officers, all persons performing a security function in the City of St. Louis must be licensed to do so through the Private Security Section,” the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said on its website.
Bush is not the only Democrat who has been scrutinized for paying family members in recent years.
California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters has paid her daughter over $1.2 million since 2004, which included the younger Waters getting another six figures in payments in the 2022 cycle.
“Karen Waters pocketed $192,300 from her mother’s campaign to keep her ‘slate mailer’ operation afloat between Jan. 2021 and Dec. 2022, a Fox News Digital review of Federal Election Commission filings shows. The setup involves outside campaigns paying Waters’ campaign to appear on the slate mailers – or endorsement mailers – sent out to constituents in the Los Angeles area,” Fox News reported.
“The practice is highly unusual on the federal level, and Waters appears to be the only national politician using it to grab committee cash,” the outlet added.
