Former Dem Rep. Corrine Brown Facing 357 Years in Federal Prison


Former U.S. Representative Brown is facing down 22 criminal charges from the 24 charge indictment served last July as she heads into court this Wednesday.

“The 12-term congresswoman is facing 22 charges: with participating in a conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, concealing material facts on required financial disclosure forms, theft of government property, obstruction of the due administration of the internal revenue laws, and filing false tax returns. Her chief of staff, Elias ‘Ronnie’ Simmons was charged with 18 counts in the same indictment.

The IRS and FBI investigated the case against the former congresswoman. Richard Weber, the chief of investigations with the IRS, said at the time that the American public expects fair enforcement of our tax laws.

She is accused of using at least $80,000 for things like Jacksonville Jaguars box tickets and Beyonce concert tickets. In the indictment, Simmons was accused of giving $735,000 to a family member for work despite no work ever being done. He was also accused of taking $80,000 of that salary for his own use.”

Brown claims she is mostly innocent and nothing screams innocence louder than picking the same defense attorney that’s worked with a Bosnian war criminal and Saddam Hussein. Greg Kehoe is a defense attorney with international ties to more leftist politicians than Brown has corruption charges. And even he backed out after learning more about the case.

“When Kehoe went with Brown and Simmons to the courthouse, they were met by protesters arguing for their innocence. First Coast News learned homeless people around the courthouse were given food and water to wave signs.

Kehoe was trying to push back the next trial date – set for August 16 – when he was brought on board. A month later, Brown would get her next attorney, James Wesley Smith III. He’s still representing her in court.”

Most people would feel ashamed of being outed as a fraudulent politician cheating her own district, but not Brown. She feels mistreated and that the people she cheated just don’t understand how inconvenient it is for her to have to go to trial.

“I have had to sell my beach house that I share with my brother. I had to take my retirement money”

Her beach house is likely something Brown should have contemplated more seriously before creating a fake charity to embezzle money for personal gain.

“Figuring out how we got here must include the story of a charity incorporated in 2011 in Virginia: One Door For Education. It posited itself as a tax-exempt 501(c)3 charity and took donations as such – but was never actually a non-profit, according to IRS records.

Court records show the ‘charity’ raised $800,000 from August 2012 until January 2016. Records also show that during that four-year span only about $1,000 was given out as a scholarship to someone in Virginia. Then came a simple question: where did the other $799,000 go?”

Brown’s former chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, knew the answer and pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.

“He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire or mail fraud and theft of government funds. He admitted to creating a fake charity – One Door For Education – and using the money raised to unjustly enrich both he and Brown. He even admitted to giving a family member a fake job, paying her with funds from a joint bank account.”

The evidence complied against Brown is damning and a life sentence is within the realm of probability.

Just a week prior to the trial’s start date, the witness list was released, as was a court document filed saying Brown’s daughter, on the prosecution’s witness list, would plead the Fifth at trial and sit silent when asked questions.

Big names were on the witness list, including Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Gaffney, former Jacksonville Sheriff Nat Glover, former CSX chief executive officer Michael Ward, automotive dealer Jack Hannania and others, including Washington lobbyist and Brown’s own daughter Shantrel Brown.

Not long after the witness list was made public, so was a motion filed in the case saying Shantrel would stand mute during questioning, invoking her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.”

More information will be provided later this week as the trial begins to unfold and new details emerge.

Source: First Coast

 

 

 



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