Although there have been former council members charged after leaving office, Brown appears to be the first councilman to be charged since federal prosecutors charged DL “Buddy” Fowlkes with bribery and income tax evasion in 1993.
He did not immediately respond to messages he left on his personal cell phone seeking comment.
According to Pak, Brown opened a series of credit cards beginning in 2012, which he then used to make thousands of dollars in personal purchases. Pak also accused Brown of obtaining more than $ 60,000 in auto loans.
The indictment further alleges that Brown provided false information to Signature Bank when he applied for a $ 75,000 loan in August 2017. Brown allegedly provided a personal financial statement during the application process, falsely alleging that he earned $ 325,000 per year and that he had $ 200,000 in cash or available assets.
Brown knew this information was false because he had recently filed other loan applications that reported much less income and cash or available assets, Pak said in the press release.
For example, in a July 2017 loan application to another bank, Brown filed a 2016 federal tax return reporting that he earned $ 125,000 per year, $ 200,000 less than his income represented for Signature Bank, they allege. The prosecutors.
The first openly elected LGBTQ black person to the Atlanta City Council, Brown had become an increasingly vocal member of the council this year, leading protests against police brutality and forming a task force to address the problem. She also publicly clashed with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Brown proposed that an ordinance would ban so-called “riot officers,” such as tear gas and rubber bullets, which police say serve as essential tools that enable them to deal with rebel crowds in the safest manner possible.
One of Brown’s oldest laws was a prohibition on landlords from rejecting federal housing vouchers as rent.
The ordinance passed on February 17 with a 13-2 vote and was hailed as an effort to eradicate coupon discrimination as Atlanta struggles to provide affordable housing.
