A Democrat councilwoman for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, said she would not resign after being indicted for allegedly committing fraud to obtain coronavirus relief funds.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Charlotte City Councilwoman Tiawana Brown had fraudulently obtained the loans and used the money to toss herself a birthday party complete with a horse-drawn carriage.
Brown had been the first council member to be elected after being previously incarcerated. She had previously served four years in prison for federal fraud charges in her 20s.
The 53-year-old Democrat and her two daughters were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud used to falsely obtain over $124,000 in loans. The charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Thursday.
Prosecutors said they used false IRS forms and also lied on the application forms to obtain the loans.
Brown denied the charges, which she called a “political attack,” and said it was a “deliberate effort to interfere with her re-election and silence her voice.”
Ironically, Brown had been the first council member to be elected after being previously incarcerated. She had previously served four years in prison for federal fraud charges in her 20s.
“Why would I resign,” Brown said. “I haven’t been convicted of anything. I was elected for the people, by the people. The people would have to remove me out of the seat.”
Prosecutors said Brown and her daughters “lied about gross income and number of employees to get about $125,000 through the federal government’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program and the Paycheck Protection Program” between April 2020 and Sept. 2021.
Prosecutors said Brown spent about $15,000 of the loan money to fund her 50th birthday party with the horse-drawn carriage at the Harvey B. Gantt Center. She also spent money on a throne, allegedly.
The pandemic loan program has been identified by some fraud experts to be a massive source of waste, fraud, and abuse. One estimate said as much as $1 trillion of pandemic relief funds were lost to fraud.
Brown and her daughters face up to 20 years in prison each if convicted on the charges.
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