Corrine Brown Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Charges
Earlier today U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown pleaded not guilty to 24 federal counts of conspiracy and fraud. Brown’s chief of staff, Elias Simmons, was also named in the indictment.
The conspiracy charge alleges Brown and Simmons donated and solicited donations to a fraudulent, Virginia-based charity called One Door for Education. According to the indictment, Brown, Simmons and the charity’s president Carla Wiley used a vast majority of the donated funds for personal expenses. The charity, which never received status as a non-profit organization, despite claims made by Brown, is alleged to have donated only $1,200 to those in educational need, despite raising over $800,000.
Additional charges included theft of government funds, concealing facts on financial disclosure forms, scheming to conceal facts, obstruction of due administration of internal revenue laws, three counts of filing false tax returns and 16 counts of wire and mail fraud.
If convicted on all charges, Brown faces up to 357 years in prison and fines of up to $4.8 million. Simmons could be sentenced to 355 years and fined up to $4.75 million.
The indictment claims Brown used money from the charity to fund a golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass, a luxury box seat for a Beyonce concert in D.C. and a luxury box for a football game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington Redskins. Additionally, prosecutors in the case allege Brown, Simmons and Wiley used funds to finance personal plane tickets, auto repairs and Caribbean vacations. Wiley pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in March.
Brown avoided questions about her role in the alleged conspiracy during a statement to the press after charges against her were announced. Brown spoke for about two minutes and focused on her efforts to secure funding for the Jacksonville Federal Courthouse, the lack of minority participation within the courthouse and the failure of federal authorities to investigate Omar Mateen before the Orlando nightclub shooting in June.
Both Brown and Simmons were ordered by the judge to attend all proceedings regarding the case, the next being a July 26 status conference. A trial date was set for Sept. 6.
This story was originally published by Folio Weekly.
