Husband of Former Squad Member Cori Bush Hit With Federal Charges in COVID Fraud Case

Rick Moran : Mar 24, 2025
PJ Media

Prosecutors allege that Merritts, a former security officer and US Army veteran, fraudulently obtained loans totaling $20,000.

[PJMedia.com] Former Missouri Rep. Cori Bush's husband, Cortney Merritts, has been charged with defrauding the government by accepting fraudulent payments from the Small Business Administration (SBA) COVID aid program known as the Payment Protection Program (PPP). (Image: Pixabay)

Federal prosecutors say that Merritts falsified details about his SBA loans in 2020 and 2021. According to the SBA, the PPP was a "loan program designed to help businesses, including nonprofits, veterans organizations, and tribal business concerns, maintain payroll and other essential costs during the COVID-19 crisis." The program offered potentially forgivable loans, with forgiveness tied to maintaining payroll and other eligible expenses.

It's estimated that at least half of the $793 billion in PPP loans were fraudulent. Some of those loans went to billionaires and large corporations. It was the most obscenely mismanaged invitation to corruption in American history. 

Prosecutors allege that Merritts, a former security officer and US Army veteran, fraudulently obtained loans totaling $20,000.

"Mr. Merritts intends to plead not guilty to the charges," Merritts's lawyer, Justin Gelfand, 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 Washington, DC."

Merritts was already under a cloud of suspicion after Bush used campaign funds to hire him as a bodyguard when she was in Congress. The House Ethics Committee cleared Bush of all charges... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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