An indictment against the husband of former “Squad” Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) was unsealed on Friday, offering a glimpse into the yearslong investigation the U.S. Justice Department has conducted against one of her top aides who fell under heavy scrutiny after being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars with little to show for it.
Cortney Merritts, who married Bush in February 2023, earned over $150,000 while serving as her security guard during her four years in office. However, the payments became the center of controversy after it was revealed that Merrits had no qualifications or specific training to serve in a protective capacity.
The indictment overlooks Merritts’s hiring and instead charges him with submitting a false application to receive federal COVID-19 benefits during the pandemic. The government alleges that the U.S. Army veteran falsified details about his business to obtain $20,000 in loans between 2020 and 2021 under the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.
“Merritts fraudulently claimed in this application that he had created this business in 2020 and that it had generated $128,000 in…
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