The jury delivered its verdict Thursday afternoon, and it wasn’t what the defendant wanted to hear.
Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was found guilty of 18 of the 22 fraud-related criminal counts filed against her, and is expected to be sentenced within the next 120 days, according to The Florida Times-Union.
The Associated Press reported:
Ex-Rep. Corrine Brown found guilty of taking money from charity purported to be giving scholarships to students. https://t.co/atmZMFJthh
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 11, 2017
The trial against Brown began late last month, where she was accused of diverting funds from a charitable foundation she’d set up for poor children for her own use to pay for a lavish lifestyle that included Beverly Hills shopping sprees.
As a result, Brown, who once hobnobbed with the rich and famous and flew with former President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One, could spend the rest of her life in prison.
The charges she was found guilty of include conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, federal tax-related crimes and hiding income she should have publicly reported.
The Times-Union reported:
She was found not guilty of two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud.
Brown could in theory be sentenced to decades in prison, but that decision is likely more than three months away. No sentencing date was immediately set.
Each fraud or conspiracy conviction carries a potential 20-year sentence, and each tax conviction three years. Hiding income could lead to another five-year sentence.
An FBI accountant testified at trial that Brown, 70, spent an average of $1,438 per month more than her reported income from her congressional salary and Florida legislative pension.
She sat 24 years as a member of Congress before losing re-election last year.
“Former Congresswoman Brown took an oath year after year to serve others, but instead she exploited the needs of children and deceived her constituents to advance her own personal and political agendas,” said FBI Jacksonville Division Special Agent in Charge Charles Spencer in a prepared statement.
“Corrupt public officials undermine the integrity of our government and violate the public’s trust, and that is why investigating public corruption remains the FBI’s top criminal priority,” Spencer said. “I am proud of our special agents, analysts and support personnel who spent countless hours following the money trail in this case, and thank our law enforcement partners at the IRS-CI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for their efforts to hold Brown and her associates accountable for their inexcusable actions.”
Clip via First Coast News
If Brown thought social media would give her the sympathy that the jury denied her, she was mistaken.
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@AP @DykstraDame Corrine: But Judge, I can’t do all that Time in prison. Judge: Just do what you can Corrine, Just do what you can. ????????????
— Deplorable 1 (@jmlg05) May 11, 2017
@Turntablez @AP Ppl who do things like this ALWAYS think they’re smarter than everyone else.
— Mary Kropinak (@KropinakMary) May 11, 2017
@AP If she were a republican that “(R)” would be plastered all over your ‘story’. SHE’S A CROOKED DEMOCRAT
Former Rep Brown (D) found guilty…— John C Stires III (@jcsthe3rd) May 11, 2017
@AP This is why we must impose #termlimits on the crooks in DC. Brown was tasked w/appropriating money in Congress, claims incompetence in trial
— Kathleen (@Lifedanzer) May 11, 2017
Finally there was this.
@AP It was a Russian set up, obviously.
— CallMeRonnie (@CallMeRonnie69) May 11, 2017
Of course it was.
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