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Brown, 70, was
convicted on 18 counts of participating in a conspiracy
involving a fraudulent education charity, concealing material
facts required on financial disclosure forms and filing false
tax returns, the Justice Department said in a statement.
“Former Congresswoman Brown chose greed and personal gain over
the sacred trust given to her by the community that she served
for many years,” acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow said after
a jury reached a verdict in Jacksonville.
Brown, a Democrat who served 24 years in Congress, lost her
re-election bid last year after being indicted.
Her sentencing date has not been set. James Smith, her attorney,
told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Jacksonville
that he would seek a new trial.
"She maintains her innocence," he said. "This is just part one
of a very long process."
Prosecutors said Brown participated from 2012 to 2016 in a
conspiracy and fraud scheme involving the One Door for Education
fund, along with her chief-of-staff Elias "Ronnie" Simmons and
the charity's president, Carla Wiley.
The group solicited more than $800,000 in charitable donations
that they said would be used to pay for college scholarships,
computers for schools and other charitable causes, prosecutors
said.
The money instead was spent by the three for their own personal
use, including for a golf tournament honoring Brown and for
luxury box seats at a Beyonce concert. The charity awarded only
two scholarships totaling $1,200 to college students, according
to trial evidence.
Simmons and Wiley previously pleaded guilty to charges stemming
from their involvement in the scheme.
Brown, known as a talkative politician who does not shy away
from the media, stayed silent as she left the courthouse on
Thursday.
Brown was elected to Congress in 1992 as one of the first three
black members of Florida's congressional delegation since the
Reconstruction period following the Civil War.
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and
Lisa Shumaker)
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