Social justice advocate once named ‘Bostonian of the Year’ sentenced in fraud case

A well-known community and social justice activist who founded a Boston nonprofit to reduce violence and who was once was lauded as “Bostonian of the Year” avoided jail time in a federal fraud case, the Justice Department said Thursday. 

Monica Cannon-Grant, 44, pleaded guilty September 2025 to 18 of the 27 counts, including wire fraud, mail fraud and failing to file tax returns, related to a scheme in which Cannon-Grant and her late husband, Clark Grant, pocketed thousands of dollars in donations to their nonprofit.

She was sentenced Thursday to four years’ probation. She was also ordered to pay $106,003 in restitution. Federal prosecutors recommended U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley sentence Cannon-Grant to 18 months in prison. 

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“Ms. Cannon-Grant’s actions were crimes of greed and opportunity,” said Nicolas Bucciarelli, acting inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division. 

Cannon-Grant and her husband were accused of diverting COVID-relief and rental assistance funds from their Violence in Boston nonprofit for personal expenses and collecting about $100,000 in illegal unemployment benefits, among other charges.

Along with her late husband, the pair founded VIB, an anti-violence nonprofit dedicated to raising social awareness and aiding community causes in Boston, federal prosecutors said. 

The couple received nearly $54,000 in pandemic relief funds, authorities said. They also allegedly used some of the nonprofit’s funds to pay their auto loan and auto insurance bills.

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They also conspired to defraud Boston’s Office of Housing Stability — by misrepresenting their household income in an effort to obtain $12,600 in rental assistance, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance by submitting forged employment documents so that another family member could receive nearly $44,000 in unemployment assistance.

Cannon-Grant also filed false tax returns for 2017 and 2018 and failed to file tax returns for 2019 and 2020, prosecutors said. 

Cannon-Grant was well-known in activist circles in Boston earning numerous awards, including The Boston Globe Magazine’s Bostonian of the Year award and a Boston Celtics Heroes Among Us award, both in 2020 amid nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd. 

In 2022, following Cannon-Grant’s indictment, VIB said it had suspended all programs and was shutting down, but its Facebook page has been frequently active since.