Corinne Brown.
Posted on 02/08/2017 1:40:57 PM PST by Jacquerie
The federal scandal involving former Florida congresswoman Corrine Brown entered a new chapter on Tuesday when her chief of staff and co-defendant Ronnie Simmons entered a guilty plea to 18 counts against him in federal court.
“After reviewing 40 thousand documents with my client, studying the evidence compiled by the government and after numerous gut retching sessions in which reality and conscious collided, Ronnie Simmons has decided to end his battle and admit his responsibility for misdeeds which he committed,” Simmons’ attorney wrote in a letter obtained by First News in Jacksonville Wednesday. Simmons pleaded guilty on two counts to conspiracy and corruption felonies: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and theft of government funds.
The former chief of staff said he helped create a fake charity and used the money raised from that charity to put more jingle in his and Brown’s pockets. Both he and brown are accused of using the money from the charity as their own personal funding source.
(Excerpt) Read more at sunshinestatenews.com ...
Go gata!
Typical corrupt criminal DIM...typical.
Typical corrupt criminal DIM...typical.
I can hear him singing all the way to the Avenues!
This is the “Special kind of stupid” fellow travel mate of Maxine. When she first reported to DC she was punked the very first day. Some paper was seeking comments from the Freshmen to get their view of the ethnic cleansing in Fredonia. This particular Fredonia was from the movie “Duck Soup” of the Marx Brothers. She not only got the hook and the sinker but continued until she got the entire rod and reel.
He’s plead guilty to only two of the 18 he’s charged with. I suspect they are the real heavy penalty charged that are the riskiest in a jury trial. Wouldn’t be surprised if he turned on Corrine to get favorable sentences for these and the rest of the charged.
No mention of party affiliation in the entire story. So I’m guessing . . .
She tried to do what Hillary did (albeit on a much smaller scale) and failed. Now she's going to prison.
Kinda sad. the white lady rakes in a thousand times as much graft with a bogus charitable foundation and gets to run for president. Remains wealthy. Poor Corrine Brown with her two-bit scholarship scam barely nets a paltry $100k, loses everything.
Another reason they call it the Black Crook Caucus
“Charges”. Dang kindle autocorrect!
Another upstanding member of the Congressional Black Criminals. I’d really like to know the conviction rate of black vs. white members of the House.
ORIGINAL CHARGES--This crooked pol takes the cake. Relax, he's in jail.
Congressman Chaka Fattah and Associates Charged with Participating in Racketeering Conspiracy
U.S. Department of Justice
July 29, 2015
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888
WASHINGTON—A member of Congress and four of his associates were indicted today for their roles in a racketeering conspiracy involving several schemes that were intended to further the political and financial interests of the defendants and others by, among other tactics, misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal, charitable and campaign funds.
Congressman Chaka Fattah Sr., 58, of Philadelphia; lobbyist Herbert Vederman, 69, of Palm Beach, Florida; Fattah’s Congressional District Director Bonnie Bowser, 59, of Philadelphia; and Robert Brand, 69, of Philadelphia; and Karen Nicholas, 57, of Williamstown, New Jersey, were charged today in a 29-count indictment with participating in a racketeering conspiracy and other crimes, including bribery; conspiracy to commit mail, wire and honest services fraud; and multiple counts of mail fraud, falsification of records, bank fraud, making false statements to a financial institution and money laundering.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Hanko of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division and Special Agent in Charge Akeia Conner of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.
“As charged in the indictment, Congressman Fattah and his associates embarked on a wide-ranging conspiracy involving bribery, concealment of unlawful campaign contributions and theft of charitable and federal funds to advance their own personal interests,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “When elected officials betray the trust and confidence placed in them by the public, the department will do everything we can to ensure that they are held accountable. Public corruption takes a particularly heavy toll on our democracy because it undermines people’s basic belief that our elected leaders are committed to serving the public interest, not to lining their own pockets.”
“The public expects their elected officials to act with honesty and integrity,” said U.S. Attorney Memeger. “By misusing campaign funds, misappropriating government funds, accepting bribes, and committing bank fraud, as alleged in the Indictment, Congressman Fattah and his co-conspirators have betrayed the public trust and undermined faith in government.”
“These crimes and the subsequent elaborate cover-up constitute an egregious breach of public trust,” said Special Agent in Charge Hanko. “It is the duty of the FBI, IRS and Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute those who violate this trust and put personal gain above public service.”
“Public corruption by our elected officials and their associates undermines the American public’s confidence in our government,” said Special Agent in Charge Conner. “When our elected officials and their associates violate the law and create sophisticated financial schemes to enrich themselves, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, will work diligently with our fellow law enforcement partners to restore the public’s trust.”
Specifically, the indictment alleges that, in connection with his failed 2007 campaign to serve as mayor of Philadelphia, Fattah and certain associates borrowed $1 million from a wealthy supporter and disguised the funds as a loan to a consulting company.
After he lost the election, Fattah allegedly returned $400,000 to the donor that the campaign had not used, and arranged for Educational Advancement Alliance (EAA), a non-profit entity that he founded and controlled, to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grant funds that passed through two other companies, including one run by Brand.
To conceal the contribution and repayment scheme, the defendants and others allegedly created sham contracts and made false entries in accounting records, tax returns and campaign finance disclosure statements.
In addition, the indictment alleges that after his defeat in the mayoral election, Fattah sought to extinguish approximately $130,000 in campaign debt owed to a political consultant by agreeing to arrange for the award of federal grant funds to the consultant. According to the allegations in the indictment, Fattah directed the consultant to apply for a $15 million grant, which he did not ultimately receive, on behalf of a then non-existent non-profit entity.
In exchange for Fattah’s efforts to arrange the award of the funds to the non-profit, the consultant allegedly agreed to forgive the debt owed by the campaign.
The indictment further alleges that Fattah misappropriated funds from his mayoral and congressional campaigns to repay his son’s student loan debt. To execute the scheme, Fattah and Bowser allegedly arranged for his campaigns to make payments to a political consulting company, which the company then used to lessen Fattah’s son’s student loan debt. According to the allegations in the indictment, between 2007 and 2011, the consultant made 34 successful loan payments on behalf of Fattah’s son, totaling approximately $23,000.
In another alleged scheme, beginning in 2008, Fattah communicated with individuals in the legislative and executive branches in an effort to secure for Vederman an ambassadorship or an appointment to the U.S. Trade Commission. In exchange, Vederman provided money and other items of value to Fattah. As part of this scheme, the indictment alleges that the defendants sought to conceal an $18,000 bribe payment from Vederman to Fattah by disguising it as a payment for a car sale that never actually took place.
Finally, the indictment alleges that Nicholas obtained $50,000 in federal grant funds that she claimed would be used by EAA to support a conference on higher education. The conference never took place. Instead, Nicholas used the grant funds to pay $20,000 to a political consultant and $10,000 to her attorney, and wrote several checks to herself from EAA’s operating account.
The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and IRS-CI. Assistance was also provided by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General, the NASA Office of Inspector General and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Eric L. Gibson, T. Patrick Martin and Jonathan Kravis of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul L. Gray of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Trial Attorney Bob Dalton of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section also provided assistance in this case.
https://www.fbi.gov/philadelphia/press-releases/2015/congressman-chaka-fattah-and-associates-charged-with-participating-in-racketeering-conspiracy
It’s always been the easiest and most effective method to identify party affiliation.
Glad somebody is shining some “sunlight” on the corrupt Democrats in the Sunshine State. About time. Next Little Debbie Wasserman-Stupid, Alan Grayson, Hastings - ah hell, all Democrat members of Congress.
If you are going to “clean the swamp”, in this case the “Everglades”, you’ve got to let the law enforcement gators do their thing.
Corinne Brown.
Oops. Your are right and I didn’t mention she’s a rat.
If convicted on all charges, congresswoman faces up to 357 years in prison.....July 08, 2016
Not only Hillary and Obama, but all of Hillary’s underlings down to her IT tech, are immune from prosecution. Unless the trend is changed, dirtbags like Brown will soon be immune as well.
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