Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown has been indicted for financial fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to a report at AJC, Brown is charged with fraud after lying about his income on applications to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in business loans and to buy luxury vehicles. He’s also been accused of lying about being a victim of identity theft to defraud financial institutions.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Brown opened a number of credit cards beginning in 2012, which he used to make thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases for his own personal benefit. He also obtained $60,000 in car loans for a Mercedes C300 and a Range Rover. Then, Brown falsely claimed that his identity had been stolen and someone else had made the credit card purchases taken out the loans, according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleges that Brown provided false information to Signature Bank when applying for a $75,000 loan in 2017, where he gave false financial information claiming he earned $325,000 per year and had $200,000 in available cash or assets. Brown had previously reported far less income and assets in previous loan applications.
Brown is the first Black openly gay person ever elected to the council and founder of the LVL XIII luxury men’s clothing line. He’s been high profile in the recent racial injustice protests and encouraged the the city to defund the police department.
Atlanta City Council President Felicia A. Moore issued the following statement on Brown’s indictment:
“As the public has been made aware, Council member Antonio Brown has recently been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on multiple charges unrelated to his service on the Atlanta City Council. At this time, no vacancy on Council exists as a result of this occurrence. A vacancy would only exist in the event of a resignation, conviction, or state-level suspension. Per the U.S. Attorney’s Office, please be reminded that the indictment only contains charges and the defendant is presumed innocent until otherwise proven at trial. This is a personal matter to be addressed by Mr. Brown as he undergoes due process of the law.”
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