Indicted Former Rep. Corrine Brown’s Campaign Spent $1000s on Hotels, Travel Expenses

Former Rep. Corrine Brown’s (D-FL) campaign committee spent thousands of dollars on hotels and other small travel expenses following her defeat in the Democratic primary in August 2016 to former Florida State Sen. Al Lawson.

Brown, who is currently on trial for corruption charges, spent $11,278 on “lodging” at a Marriott hotel in Bethesda, Maryland in September 2016 just one month after the election, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

The campaign also disclosed three “petty cash” transactions amounting to more than $2,000 over a two-week period between October 16 and November 4 in addition to the hotel expenditures.

The campaign also spent $185 on travel expenses in  Houston, Texas and Jacksonville, Florida.

Thousands of dollars were spent paying campaign vendors and other transactions a campaign is likely to make after an election loss.

Brown and her chief of staff, Elias “Ronnie” Simmons, were indicted in July 2016 on 24 counts of fraud after the former congresswoman created a fake foundation that only spent $1,200 on charitable causes out of the $800,000 deposited into the organization.

Brown’s Virginia-based foundation, One Door for Education, accepted thousands of dollars from registered lobbyists.

Federal authorities found that Brown, Simmons, and foundation president Carla Wiley spent $200,000 of foundation money on luxury vacations, NFL tickets, plane tickets, car repairs, and lavish events.

Wiley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud in March 2016, and Simmons pleaded guilty to fraud in February 2017.

An FBI agent testified Wednesday against Brown, saying she took the money from her foundation and put into a joint bank account that she shared with her daughter.