There’s trouble at home for one major Democrat. And the press is going to have a field day with it.
Because her husband was arrested for committing this heinous crime.
A bombshell federal indictment out of Washington, D.C., accuses Cortney Merritts, the 46-year-old husband of former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), of swindling taxpayers out of over $20,000 through a slick COVID loan hustle—cash he allegedly squandered on “personal benefit and enjoyment,” according to the DC US Attorney’s Office.
Merritts faces two counts of wire fraud tied to shady applications he allegedly submitted to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2020 and 2021, pocketing—and never repaying—pandemic relief funds from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In July 2020, Merritts scored an $8,500 EIDL loan for his moving outfit, Vetted Couriers, after swearing to the SBA it had six employees and raked in $32,000 the prior year, the indictment claims.
But just a day later, he doubled down, applying again under the same program for a vague entity called “Courtney Merritts,” this time boasting ten employees and $53,000 in revenue.
The SBA sniffed out the scam, rejecting the second bid after noting the paperwork was “nearly identical” to his first.
The DC US Attorney’s Office, led by Ed Martin, alleges Merritts cooked the books on employee counts and revenues in those flopped applications.
Undeterred, he took another swing in April 2021, chasing a PPP loan for “Cortney Merritts.”
This time, he claimed the business launched in 2020 and pulled in $128,000 that year—more lies, prosecutors say. Unlike his earlier strikeout, this pitch landed, netting him a $20,832 PPP loan.
“Merritts used the proceeds for his personal benefit and enjoyment,” federal prosecutors assert, though they’re tight-lipped on what he splurged on.
“Based on Merritts’ alleged fraudulent representations, the SBA forgave the PPP loan in the amount of $20,832 and the $254.03 in interest,” the DC US Attorney’s Office noted.
Merritts’ attorney, Justin Gelfand, told the Washington Post his client’s ready to fight. “We look forward to litigating this case in the courtroom,” he said, signaling a not-guilty plea.
Cori Bush, the ex-“Squad” firebrand who lost her Missouri 1st District seat in 2024, isn’t implicated in her husband’s alleged scheme. Still, she’s no stranger to scrutiny.
In 2023, the Federal Election Commission and congressional ethics watchdogs flagged her for paying Merritts $60,000 from campaign funds in 2022 for security gigs—despite his lack of a license—cash that flowed before their February 2023 wedding, per the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT).
The “Defund the police” champion allegedly “used campaign funds for personal use,” the nonpartisan group charged.
Curiously, while Bush’s campaign was cutting checks to Merritts, it also shelled out over $225,000 to St. Louis’s PEACE Security and $50,000 to another guard, Nathaniel Davis, per FEC records.
Last year, the Justice Department reportedly probed Bush over her use of congressional and campaign funds for private security, though the investigation’s status remains murky, and she’s faced no charges.
