Tiawana Brown and her two daughters were each charged with two counts of wire fraud and conspiracy for an alleged scheme to obtain over $124,000 in pandemic aid.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown made her first appearance in court on Friday following a federal indictment on charges of COVID-19 relief fraud.
Brown pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years and three years of supervised release. WCNC Charlotte’s Anna King confirmed that Brown’s daughters, Tijema Brown and Antionette Rouse, also pleaded not guilty. Brown and her attorney, Rob Heroy, are requesting a jury trial in the case.
The court strongly discouraged Brown from speaking with her daughters about the case.
According to a release by the Department of Justice, Brown and her two daughters are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. WCNC Charlotte confirmed one of those loans, more than $20,000, was forgiven through the Paycheck Protection Program for a business Brown said she owned.
A judge granted Brown a $25,000 unsecured bond. The judge said Brown’s passport will be taken away but any travel viewed as necessary for her job on Charlotte City Council will be handled on a case-by-case basis. She’s permitted to travel in the U.S.
RELATED: US attorney says the feds generally pursue charges for ‘classic’ fraud
The prosecution and defense agreed that Brown isn’t a flight risk, citing her role on Charlotte City Council and her work in the community, which is why she won’t be held in jail.
The indictment claims the group filed at least 15 fraudulent loan applications between April 2020 and September 2021, using fake tax forms and false documentation. Federal prosecutors say, while some of the loan applications were rejected, Brown used money from others that were approved for personal spending, including “purchases of Louis Vuitton merchandise.”
A review of federal PPP data reveals Brown and her daughters applied for their PPP loans around the same time in the spring of 2021. Records show their applications were oddly alike.
According to PPP data, each used the same Charlotte address in their applications, each (as sole proprietors) received the maximum PPP amount in the first round and Brown’s daughters secured the exact same amounts again after applying for secondary loans. Each said they used the money for payroll and listed the same gross incomes for their reported businesses, according to PPP and court records.
The indictment also says, roughly a month after receiving the loan, Brown spent $15,000 on a birthday party for herself, complete with a rose wall, a rented throne and a horse-drawn carriage.
During a news conference Thursday addressing the allegations, Brown admitted to paying back $20,833, claiming that’s all she was responsible for. She said the money was paid back “a few months ago,” and that the loan was intended for a new clothing a swimwear business she was starting. A Facebook page for the business shows it was created in November 2020.
“Nobody had to tell me to pay it back,” Brown declared. “When I found out there may have been some scrutiny with the application, I paid it back.”
For the latest breaking news, weather and traffic alerts that impact you from WCNC Charlotte, download the WCNC Charlotte mobile app and enable push notifications.
