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Stew Lilker’s

Columbia County Observer

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Florida/National News

Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown Pleads Guilty In Fraud Case

Corrine Brown (AP photo) in 2015
Columbia County Observer graphic

A criminal case against former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, one of the first Black representatives elected to Congress from Florida after Reconstruction, ended today [yesterday] with her guilty plea to a tax charge in a charity fraud case.

Brown, 75, had been convicted before in 2017 of 18 counts and served more than two years of her five-year sentence in prison before her release on humanitarian grounds due to the coronavirus pandemic and its potential harm on older incarcerated people.

A plea agreement filed in court says that although the charge carries a possible three-year prison sentence, federal prosecutors recommend that the judge not impose any additional prison time, but order that the Democrat pay more than $62,000 in restitution to the IRS.

It’s up to U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan to decide the ultimate sentence.

Brown’s initial conviction on 18 charges was overturned by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals because one juror was removed by Corrigan. The juror had said during deliberations that the “Holy Spirit” had told him Brown was innocent.

Brown was renowned for her service to the Jacksonville area and, as a state legislator previously, as a pioneer in the Black political world. But prosecutors said it didn’t stop there.

Court documents show Brown siphoned money from the One Door for Education Foundation for personal use. Prosecutors said the pattern of fraud by Brown and her top aide included using hundreds of thousands of dollars from the foundation to pay for lavish parties, trips and shopping excursions.

Federal prosecutors said Brown, her chief of staff and One Door’s executive director used the charity to bring in more than $800,000 between 2012 and 2016, through donations and events including a high-profile golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass.

The Virginia-based One Door gave out only one scholarship, for $1,200, to an unidentified person in Florida, according to court documents.

Read the whole story here.

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