JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fifth District Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) has been indicted on charges likely related to her involvement with an unregistered charity in Virginia and will appear in Jacksonville Federal Court Friday, multiple sources have confirmed to First Coast News.
First Coast News has reached out to Brown's office for comment from the congresswoman but they have yet to hear from her. However, close associates say she is "strong" and "not worried" about the indictment.
Brown has been in her Capitol Hill office all afternoon and has not spoken to reporters gathered in her office.
The indictments are sealed, and details are sketchy, but may stem from Brown's involvement in a group called "One Door for Education," which advertised itself as a charity, but was never a registered nonprofit. One Door's president Carla Wiley entered a guilty plea of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud charges in early March (see below).
That plea appeared to implicate Brown, then identified only as "Person A," alleging she benefited personally from funds raised by One Door. The documents described "Person A" as a public official who was often used in promotional materials for the group. Brown's photo appeared on the website for the group before it was taken down.
The documents suggest more than $150,000 raised by One Door was used not for charitable purposes, but political events, travel and hotels.
Wiley has promised cooperation with federal authorities as part of the plea deal. Brown has remained tight-lipped about her role in the investigation and has not responded to our calls about the indictment.
Reporting by the Florida Times-Union found that Brown raised money for One Door as part of a 2013 golf tournament where sponsorship levels reached as high as $20,000. The newspaper reported that One Door was based out of a single-family home in Virginia, and that the group received money from "political action committees, lobbyists, and foundations run by people around Brown."
Brown was first elected to Congress in 1992. Her current Fifth District stretches from Jacksonville to near Orlando. However, major changes to district lines mean she has declared that she will run for re-election in a district that stretches from Jacksonville westward to Tallahassee.
