A federal court in North Carolina has sentenced Tiawana Brown, a former Charlotte City councilwoman, and her two daughters for their involvement in a $146,665 COVID-19 relief fraud scheme between April 2020 and September 2021.
Ms Brown will spend 10 months in prison and two years of supervised release, while her daughters, Tijema Brown, 32, and Antionette Rouse, 34, were sentenced to two years of probation and four months of home detention, respectively.
“These programmes are set up at a time of great desperation for a lot of people,” district judge Kenneth Bell said while handing down the sentence on Tuesday. “The public is tired of being ripped off.”
A Department of Justice statement said the former councilwoman agreed to forfeit $22,500 in fraud proceeds, while each of her daughters agreed to forfeit $51,666.
Mr Bell also ordered the defendants to pay $137,280 in restitution to the Small Business Administration. Prosecutors said only Ms Tiawana paid $20,833 so far.
Prosecutors said Ms Brown and her daughters had submitted at least 13 fraudulent applications to the SBA for the COVID-19 relief funds through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme and the Paycheck Protection Programme.
“Instead of using the funds to pay for qualifying expenses as required by the loans, the defendants used the funds on personal expenses, including approximately $15,000 on a personal birthday party for Tiawana Brown,” the DOJ said.