Former Boston activist Monica Cannon-Grant has been ordered to cough up $224,063 after a federal judge ruled that money tied to fraud flowed through her now-shuttered nonprofit, Violence in Boston. The forfeiture order, entered Monday in U.S. District Court, comes on the heels of her Jan. 29 sentencing, when Cannon-Grant was given six months of home confinement and four years of probation after pleading guilty to a raft of federal fraud and tax charges. Prosecutors say the newly set total reflects donations and pandemic-relief dollars that were siphoned off for personal use, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Judge signs off on six-figure forfeiture
U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley signed the order pegging forfeiture at $224,063, describing the sum as criminal proceeds. Court filings break that down into roughly $181,000 in diverted donations, more than $33,000 in fraudulent pandemic-unemployment benefits, and about $12,600 in rental-assistance payments. The new order layers on top of penalties from Cannon-Grant's January sentencing, which included restitution and a six-month home-confinement term, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Plea, sentence and restitution
Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty in September 2025 to 18 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud and multiple tax offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release. On Jan. 29, Judge Kelley sentenced her to four years of probation, six months of home detention and 100 hours of community service, a significantly lighter outcome than the 18-month prison term prosecutors had urged. The Justice Department release notes that the sentence included $106,003 in restitution, with the forfeiture amount left to be set in a separate court order.
Prosecutors' allegations
Federal prosecutors say Cannon-Grant and her late husband raised more than $1 million for Violence in Boston, then quietly funneled substantial chunks into vacations, car payments, restaurant tabs and other personal expenses instead of community programs. Authorities also accuse the pair of applying for and collecting pandemic relief and rental-assistance funds that were supposed to help residents in need, then routing portions toward personal bills. Those allegations formed the backbone of the indictment and the eventual plea deal, and federal investigators traced the specific proceeds now listed in the forfeiture order, according to The Boston Globe.
From protest leader to federal defendant
Cannon-Grant surged into the spotlight in 2020 after organizing a massive Boston march following the killing of George Floyd, a role that helped earn her a Bostonian of the Year nod for her activism. That rapid rise, followed by federal fraud charges, has sharpened public scrutiny of how her nonprofit operated and how donors' money was handled. Local outlets have tracked the saga as Violence in Boston folded and the criminal case advanced. Hoodline chronicled her September 2025 plea when Cannon-Grant pleaded guilty, and WBUR has documented both her rise and the detailed allegations from prosecutors.
What comes next
The forfeiture order is designed to pinpoint and claw back money tied to Cannon-Grant's offenses so that victims and public programs can be repaid, and it authorizes federal officials to move on seizing assets and enforcing collection. As part of her plea agreement, several mortgage-related counts were dropped, and the Justice Department has noted that some charges against her co-defendant were dismissed after his death in 2023. With the $224,063 forfeiture now formally on the books, the U.S. Attorney's Office says it will move to collect that amount along with any additional assets that investigators can link to the scheme, per the department's press release.
