In yet another incident in which a supposed public servant has stolen immense amounts of taxpayer funding in a corruption scheme, Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown has been indicted by a federal grand jury over a scheme that saw her and her daughters pilfering well over $120,000 in Covid relief funds, using the money to fund luxury purchases. Brown is running for re-election despite the scandal.
As background, the relief funding handed out by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic has become infamous for the vast amount of fraud spawned by it. Tim Walz’s Minnesota, for instance, saw one of the largest cases of relief fraud ever, and the Paycheck Protection Program was notoriously misused by faux entrepreneurs who just wanted a quick check from the government.
Amongst those implicated in the Covid-era fraud was Tiawana Brown and her daughters, as the US Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina announced in late May, saying, “A federal grand jury in Charlotte has returned a criminal indictment charging Tiawana Brown, 53, and her daughters, Tijema Brown, 30, and Antionette Rouse, 33, all of Charlotte, with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with fraudulent applications filed to falsely obtain COVID pandemic relief funds, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.”
Continuing, the statement described what her scheme allegedly was, providing, “According to allegations in the indictment, between April 2020 and September 2021, the defendants conspired to execute a scheme to defraud the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and obtain COVID pandemic relief funds for their purported businesses, through the submission of loan applications that contained false information or false documentation.”
Further, the statement noted that the fraudulent requests for money included everything from false statements to faked tax records, noting, “It is alleged that the false documentation generally included fake and fraudulent tax forms, among other misrepresentations. It is further alleged that the defendants submitted false statements to obtain forgiveness of the PPP loans.”
All in all, that meant the three allegedly stole over $124,000 over 15 different applications for relief funding, a massive fraud scheme. “In total, the defendants allegedly submitted at least 15 applications for EIDL or PPP funds and falsely obtained at least $124,165 in connection with their scheme to defraud,” the statement provided.
They then used the fraudulently obtained money to pay for things like a birthday blowout, luxury handbags, and the like. The statement noted, “The indictment also alleges that the EIDL and PPP funds were deposited into bank accounts controlled by the defendants. Instead of using the pandemic relief funds to pay for qualifying expenses as purported in the loan applications, the defendants allegedly used the proceeds on personal expenses, including allegedly approximately $15,000 on a personal birthday party for Tiawana Brown.”
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Concluding, the statement noted that they face decades in prison, providing, “The defendants are charged with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud. If convicted, they face maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each offense charged in the indictment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence imposed after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”
Despite having been caught using taxpayer money to buy things like Louis Vuitton handbags, Brown has decided to run for City Council again. Releasing a video announcing as much in mid-July, she said, “I’m excited to just stand in solidarity for those of you that don’t normally have the regular voice at city council. Thank you for being with me … during the storm.”
Watch her comment on her platform here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video