JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) - A judge has sentenced former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown to five years in prison and a 3-year supervised release in her fraud case.
According to WFTV, Brown's attorney said she will appeal the sentence.
The 71-year-old was in court at 10 a.m. Monday in Jacksonville, a city in the Florida district she represented in Congress during her historic, nearly 25-year career.
She was sentenced for fraud and other charges related to a purported charity for poor students she used as a personal slush fund.
Carla Wiley, president of One Door for Education, was sentenced to 21 months in prison and a 3-year supervised release for her part in the case, WFTV reports.
Brown's former chief of staff, Elias "Ronnie" Simmons, and Wiley accepted plea deals and testified against Brown. They are also scheduled to be sentenced Monday.
According to WFTV, federal prosecutors said the three used One Door to bring in more than $800,000 between 2012 and 2016. The Virginia-based One Door only gave out one scholarship for $1,200 to an unidentified person in Florida, according to court documents.
Brown's former chief of staff told jurors that Brown ordered him to take cash and checks from One Door's account on dozens of occasions and deposit the money into Brown's personal account.
Brown testified in her own defense, saying she was left in the dark about the details of One Door's money, and blamed the theft on Simmons.
Brown was facing life in prison.
According to the Associated Press, she was convicted in May by a federal jury of 18 of the 22 charges against her, which included fraud, lying on her tax returns and on her congressional financial disclosures.
Her attorneys argued for leniency at a hearing last month, saying Brown's community work should mitigate her crimes.
