The husband of former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, has been charged with defrauding the government after allegedly accepting $20,000 from the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster Loan programs, the Justice Department announced.
Cortney Merritts, 46, of St. Louis, falsified information about his alleged businesses in order to obtain loans from the Small Business Administration in 2020 and 2021, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
He was charged with two counts of wire fraud.
“Mr. Merritts intends to plead not guilty to the charges,” Merritts’ attorney, Justin Gelfand of Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson, stated. “As with any indictment, this is only the government’s side of the story. We look forward to arguing this case in federal court in Washington, D.C.”
Merritts repeatedly applied for business loans for a company he claimed to own, while also allegedly misrepresenting his revenue and the number of people he employed, authorities said.
According to prosecutors, one of his loan applications in July 2020 was rejected because it was nearly identical to one he had previously submitted.
Merritts was indicted a year after the Justice Department launched an investigation into Bush, a former member of the “Squad,” for campaign contributions to her husband.
Bush was defeated in a primary last year amid controversy over her criticism of Israel’s response to Hamas terrorist attacks on its citizens on October 7, 2023.
The so-called “Squad” Bush previously belonged to is an informal group of progressive lawmakers in Congress that includes representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
