JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — (The video above is from a previous report)
Federal prosecutors say the money former Congresswoman Corrine Brown forfeited after her fraud and conspiracy conviction has mostly been spent and is not available to refund. Brown filed a motion last week requesting that “all monies taken by the government” be refunded following the reversal of her original conviction earlier this year.
Brown wanted a return of all the money she paid to satisfy her criminal monetary penalties, totaling $43,363. However, prosecutors says she's only entitled to a portion of that amount -- roughly $12,301.
That includes a special assessment of $1,800 as well as two pools of money -- $1,655 and $8,846 -- that was collected from Brown but not yet disbursed to victims. But the remaining $31,062 has already been disbursed to non-federal victims by the Clerk, and cannot be returned.
Not only is the money not available, but prosecutors say it would make no sense to return the money when Brown is being retried for the crime and could likely face similar financial penalties. In their response to Brown's filing, prosecutors call the refund "a waste of judicial resources and risks compensating Brown for restitution that she will ultimately owe."
Brown says she needs the money to hire an attorney for her upcoming retrial. In her Oct. 15 motion she said, “It would seem to be a self-evident proposition that when a judgment has been appealed and the judgment has been vacated that the Government could no longer restrain either the defendant personally or her assets which had been seized and held under that judgment.”
After prosecutors filed their response, Brown asked the court for permission to file a response. That response is due by Nov. 8.
Brown was convicted in 2017 on 18 counts stemming from what prosecutors said was a sham charity that she used as a personal slush fund. That conviction was reversed in May by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the trial judge improperly removed a juror who said he was being guided by “The Holy Ghost” during deliberations.
Brown was sentenced to five years in prison. She served a little over two before being released in April 2020 due to her age, COVID and unnamed health concerns.
Brown is awaiting retrial in February 2022.