Former Charlotte councilwoman Tiawana Brown was sentenced to 10 months in prison for a COVID relief fraud conspiracy involving her daughters, Tijema Brown and Antoinette Rouse; they received two years of probation and four months of house arrest.
Court documents say the three submitted false documents and employee records to obtain government pandemic loans in 2020 and 2021. Brown used some of the money for her 50th-birthday party, including a throne and horse-drawn carriage; the family also spent it on Louis Vuitton merchandise. Judge Kenneth Bell ordered each woman to repay $137,280.09, although they received different amounts.
Bell said the prosecution and defense had relied on sentencing guidelines that were too lenient, and accused federal prosecutors of miscalculating them and overlooking standard wire-fraud conspiracy rules. Prosecutor Matthew Warren apologized. Bell found Rouse least culpable, while Tijema Brown said she had driven the scheme. He cited Tiawana Brown’s prior prison term for student-loan fraud and said she should have stopped it.