Former Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown Sentenced to Five Years in Prison

Former Democrat Rep. Corrine Brown (FL) was just sentenced to five years in prison after her conviction in a federal fraud case on May 18th. In the case, prosecutors proved Brown used a charity to enrich herself.

The sentence is exactly what prosecutor Tysen Duva asked for, according to Action News Jax.

The 18 counts Brown was found guilty of included wire fraud, tax evasion and other crimes stemming from her theft from a Virginia-based charitable foundation. She was found guilty on seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, one count of scheming to conceal material facts, three tax fraud charges, and one count of obstructing IRS laws.

During the trial, an FBI agent testified that Brown had cash taken from the foundation and funneled into her bank account.

More than $800,000 was deposited into One Door for Education, the Virginia-based foundation, but only $1,200 of the foundation’s money went to charity. Federal authorities discovered last year that Brown, Elias, and Carla Wiley, the foundation’s president, spent $200,000 of the group’s money on NFL tickets, luxury vacations, plane tickets, car repairs, and lavish events.

Wiley was also sentenced to 21 months in prison, combined with 3 years of supervised release for her role in the crime. Brown’s former chief of staff, Ronnie Simmons, will also be behind bars for four years.

Brown will also be required to pay $62,650.99 in restitution to the IRS and a portion of $452,515.87 in restitution to others. The courtroom was overflowing with people as the judge read the verdict.

The FBI released a statement regarding the sentencing of Wiley, Simmons and Brown: “It is incredibly disappointing that an elected official, who took an oath year after year to serve others, would exploit the needs of children and abuse the charitable hearts of constituents to advance her own personal and political agendas, and deliver them with virtually nothing. I am proud of the exceptional work of the special agents, analysts and support personnel who spent countless hours following the money trail in this case. Their work is some of the most complex, tedious, and significant work we do for the American public. It is an exceptionally difficult task, but rooting out public corruption is a priority for which the FBI will continue to dedicate the resources necessary to investigate, because the impact on everyday people is real. We thank our law enforcement partners at the IRS-CI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts to hold Brown and her associates accountable for their inexcusable actions.”

This is a breaking news update. We will have more details as they become available.

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