From 1993 to 2016, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons controlled Brown’s finances for Friends of Corrine Brown and Florida Delivers Leadership PAC. Rep.
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Brown has pled not guilty on all counts. Simmons faces 19 counts. The trial was set for September 6, a week after her re-election primary. Her next status hearing is August 12 at 2:30 p.m.
Brown faces a maximum of 357 years in prison and almost $5 million in fines if she is convicted on all charges. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said in a statement that Brown and Simmons are accused of using One Door “as a personal slush fund” between 2012 and this year. “The American public expects and deserves equitable enforcement of our tax laws”.
Mike Binder, faculty director of the poll, said Friday that voters in the western parts of the district had mostly been introduced to Brown through the fight against the redistricting plan, followed by the criminal charges.
On June 9, 1998, Congresswomen Corrine Brown also faced the Congressional Accountability Project who had voted to conduct a formal inquiry against her The Project called for the U.S House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to determine if Brown had violated House Rule 10.
Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida was indicted on corruption charges likely stemming from her involvement with a massive and reportedly bogus charity. 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.
Earlier this year, Carla Wiley, president of the One Door for Education for Education Foundation Inc, pleaded guilty and admitted to conspiring with an unnamed public official.
Only two One Door-associated scholarships totaling $1,200 allegedly were awarded to students to cover expenses related to attending a college or university.
Now, four months after Wiley’s plea deal, Brown is finally set to be indicted herself, according to several unnamed sources cited by The Orlando Sentinel.
The indictment’s unveiling had been a long time coming: Brown was first served with a federal subpoena in January, and in March the House Ethics Committee announced it was examining whether she’d been involved with “fraudulent activities”. District five has been reconfigured from its winding North-South orientation to run East-West: from Tallahassee to Jacksonville.
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“I am certain this will not be a distraction from my service to the people of Florida’s 5th Congressional District who elected me, and I am confident I will be cleared of these charges”, she wrote.
