Posted on 01/13/2016 10:30:23 AM PST by w1n1
One of the Discovery Channel's most successful of many forays into the Alaskan way of life has been the polarizing Alaskan Bush People, which chronicles the Brown family's desire to live off the grid. The show has a huge following and scored big ratings for the cable network. The family has drawn its share of controversy over its run on TV also.
Now, after news surfaced a couple years ago that some family members were indicted on fraud charges when applying for Alaska's oil fund payments, two of the Browns face some jail time.
The oil wealth fund, established in 1976, requires a portion of state oil revenues to be distributed to qualified residents who have lived in Alaska for an entire calendar year and plan to stay there indefinitely.
Billy Brown, 63, and son Joshua, 31, pleaded guilty to misdemeanors of unsworn falsification for lying on applications to receive the payouts. Read the rest of the story here.
Bam!
They all sound a a few boards short of a full pallet on that show. And what’s up with the sideburns?
“They often go up to nine months without seeing people outside their own family, and have developed their own accent and dialect as they live together in a cabin.”
It seems that only the children have this Australian sounding accent. Tis a puzzlement.
I enjoy most of the shows on Alaska, but this crew is scum. After the first couple of shows I was done.
I remember in college in Georgia several people from Alaska got this distribution...
And laughed at the rest of us.
Reality show people are scammers? Shocking.
So they live in Alaska and they should get some of the money.. The Article didn’t say what they did or was accused of doing.. Were they not living in Alaska???
Student’s Guide to the PFD
https://pfd.alaska.gov/Eligibility/Student-Eligibility
must pay non-resident tuition in order to remain qualified...
must be enrolled and attend as a full-time student in good standing...
If you register to vote in another state, even in a voter registration drive on campus, it will affect your eligibility....
I can understand a man wanting to live on his own and be off the grid and free but I could not let my family live like that. I would have to provide better.
Everything about the show is fictitious except for the sons failure to launch.
They were not in Alaska for the required amount of days to receive the check.
..doesn't say what they falsified?
I think they have bugged-out due to dad's medical condition now.
I thought they were going to Seattle, but I thought I read they were in CA?
Strange group...
The father and son previously signed written statements admitting they left the state in October 2009 and didn’t return until August 2012, yet continued cashing in on their cut of the state’s oil money, reserved for most Alaskans who reside in the state for a majority of the calender year. Billy Brown also admitted in court documents that he applied for PFD checks for his three minor children during those years using false residency information.
http://juneauempire.com/local/2016-01-11/out-bush-and-prison
Tuned in for first episode. They struck me as a family of grifters, so I never watched them again.
I’m sure thousands of Alaskans are doing the same thing but the authoratays are picking on them for not properly living by gubmint approved lifestyles. Meh...
My experience from living in Alaska, the PFD folks are tougher than the IRS.
I had a co-worker file a day late one year. His family got nothing.
Next year, we all helped him out with reminders, about every day, starting a couple months in advance...
ok didn’t know that.. Don’t watch the show anyway.. Thought it was too phony!!!
In addition to the jail time, the plea deal the judge accepted requires Billy Brown to pay a $10,000 fine within 90 days of being released from jail, pay back the $7,956 in PFD money he collected illegally, complete 40 hours of community work service that cannot be filmed for the TV show and to do a year of probation. It makes him ineligible for all future PFDs. His attorney, James McGowan, said the PFD money he has to pay back is in the process of being wire transferred to the Juneau PFD office. Prosecutor Lisa Kelley said if her office doesn't receive confirmation within a week, they will be back in court.
10,000 fine, payable in 90 days from being released.
7,956 pay back is being wired back to PFD.
"Subsistence Living" with a huge Discovery TV paycheck must be rough?
ineligible for all future PFDs
So what is the effective cost for this penalty portion for the 31 year old son? $75~100,000?
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