ATLANTA (AP) - An Atlanta councilman accused of attempting to defraud several financial institutions has been indicted on multiple charges, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown is accused of taking out loans and making credit card purchases, then falsely claiming that he was the victim of identity theft and was not responsible for the charges or repaying the loans, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Brown was indicted on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and making false statements on a bank loan application.
Brown did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press.
“Brown’s scheme was eventually brought to light, resulting in his indictment by the grand jury,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak said in a news release.
According to court records, beginning in 2012, Brown opened a number of credit cards and made thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases. He also got $60,000 in automobile loans to finance the purchase of two luxury vehicles - a Mercedes Benz C300 and a Range Rover.
“Despite opening and using these credit cards and despite taking the money for the two automobile loans, Brown allegedly falsely claimed that his identity had been stolen and that someone else had made the credit card purchases or had taken out these loans,” the indictment alleges.
Pak noted that the charges in the indictment all relate to conduct that occurred before Brown, 35, was elected to the Atlanta City Council.
Brown won a special runoff election in 2019 for the seat that had been held by Ivory Lee Young, who died in late 2018 of cancer.
Brown is the first sitting Atlanta city councilman to be indicted since federal prosecutors charged D. L. “Buddy” Fowlkes with bribery and income tax evasion in 1993, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
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