FL Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown Charged in Fraud Scheme Involving Faux Education Charity

Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., and her chief of staff have been indicted and charged for a conspiracy and fraud scheme involving a fraudulent education charity. Federal investigators said the defunct charity was supposed to give scholarships to poor children, but instead the money filled the pockets of Brown, who represents Florida’s 5th Congressional District, and her associates.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said the following in a statement:

“Brown, 69, of Jacksonville, Florida, and her chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons, 50, of Laurel, Maryland, were charged today in a 24-count indictment 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.”

According to the indictment, Rep. Brown and Simmons solicited donations from individuals and corporate entities that Brown knew by virtue of her position in the U.S. House of Representatives. The defendants led many of these donors to believe that One Door was a properly-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, when, in fact, it was not.

Contrary to the defendants’ representations, the indictment alleges that Rep. Brown, Simmons and Carla Wiley, the president of One Door, among others, used the vast majority of the so-called charity’s donations for their personal and professional benefit, including tens of thousands of dollars in cash deposits Simmons made to Rep. Brown’s personal bank accounts.

In one instance, Simmons deposited $2,100 in One Door donations right into Rep. Brown’s personal bank account the same day that the congresswoman wrote a check for a similar amount to pay taxes she owed.

“Our Office is committed to ferreting out and prosecuting all forms of corruption and fraud, regardless of who the offender is,” U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III said. “In our nation, no one is above the law.”

Rep. Brown, who was at the center of an investigation for months, returned to Florida and will appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Carla Wiley, one of the people connected to the charity One Door for Education, pleaded guilty in March to federal charges. Brown was served with a federal subpoena in January in connection with the charity to which she was connected that investigators said was mainly used to raise and spend money for political purposes.

“Congresswoman Brown and her chief of staff are alleged to have used the Congresswoman’s official position to solicit over $800,000 in donations to a supposed charitable organization, only to use that organization as a personal slush fund,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Corruption erodes the public’s trust in our entire system of representative government. One of the department’s most important responsibilities is to root out corruption at all levels of government and to bring wrongdoers to justice.”

From 1993 to 2016, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons controlled Brown’s finances for Friends of Corrine Brown and Florida Delivers Leadership PAC. Rep. Brown appeared on materials, such as brochures, for the group, including a golf tournament at which money was raised.

Read the full press release by the Department of Justice here.