Council member faces federal indictment, says she won't resign

Catch up quick: Federal prosecutors indicted Brown on wire fraud charges, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In a release Thursday morning, prosecutors described Brown and her daughters' alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain federal money during the pandemic.

The intrigue: In the indictment, prosecutors allege they received a total of at least $124,165 in loans. Brown says she received and paid back one loan for $20,833 a few months ago.

• Per the indictment, Brown is charged with using money on expenditures outside of business, including $15,000 on her 50th birthday party in 2021 at the Harvey B. Gantt Center in Uptown, which included a horse-drawn carriage and a throne.

Zoom in: The charges allege between April 2020 and September 2021, Brown and her daughters conspired to defraud the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and its Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and obtain COVID pandemic relief funds for their businesses by using loan applications that included false information or false documentation.

Zoom out: Our news partners at WBTV have been digging deeper into the federal investigation into Brown for weeks, even as she initially dodged questions about the allegations.

Flashback: Brown was convicted in 1994 on felony fraud charges and served four years in federal prison. She has advocated for incarceration reform since her release, serving on various boards and councils.

• She also founded the nonprofit Beauty After the Bars. IRS records show the company is a registered nonprofit but had its status revoked in 2020 for not filing the necessary forms. The IRS reinstated its nonprofit status in 2023.