Top Democrat on House vet affairs committee charged with fraud - U.S. - Stripes: "JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida and her chief of staff pleaded not guilty Friday to multiple fraud charges and other federal offenses in a grand jury indictment unsealed after an investigation into what prosecutors call a phony charity turned into a personal slush fund.
Brown, a 69-year-old Democrat, and Chief of Staff Elias "Ronnie" Simmons, 50, entered pleas in Jacksonville federal court on charges of mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, obstruction and filing of false tax returns.
...The 24-count indictment comes after an investigation into the purported charity One Door for Education Foundation Inc., which federal prosecutors say was billed as a way to give scholarships to poor students but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.
...The indictment says that Brown, Simmons and Wiley "used the vast majority" of One Door donations for their personal and professional benefit, including tens of thousands of dollars in cash deposits that Simmons made to Brown's personal bank accounts.
...One Door money was also used for such things are repairs to Brown's car and vacations to locations such as the Bahamas, Miami Beach and Los Angeles.
In addition, House of Representatives money was used to pay a "close family member" of Simmons identified as "Person C" more than $735,000 between 2001 and 2016 for a job in Brown's office that involved little or no work, according to the indictment.
Simmons allegedly benefited from some of that money..."
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