Chairman Kwame charged with bank fraud

One of the most influential leaders in D.C. government, the chairman of the District of Columbia Council, Kwame R. Brown was charged with a single count of bank fraud and accused of overstating his income by tens of thousands of dollars. He was accused in a criminal information, a document that generally signals that a defendant has agreed to plead guilty. was charged Wednesday with lying about his income on loan applications, the latest allegation of criminal wrongdoing to roil the local government in the nation's capital.

Brown becomes the second D.C. council member since January to be criminally charged and the allegations also come as federal authorities investigate the 2010 campaign of Mayor Vincent Gray, who preceded Brown as council chairman.

Chairman Kwame

Brown's lawyer, Frederick Cooke, did not return calls seeking comment and did not speak to reporters camped outside of Brown's office ahead of a 3 p.m. meeting with fellow council members. The U.S. attorney's office said it would have no comment on the charge.

Court papers say Brown misstated his income by tens of thousands of dollars in loan applications submitted in 2005 for a home equity loan and for a new boat. Federal authorities had also been investigating his 2008 campaign for financial improprieties, but the charging documents do not include any campaign-related allegations.

The council functions as a state legislature in D.C., with its 13 members voting on legislation and a multi-billion-dollar budget that affects all corners of city life.

Brown was charged six months after then-Council member Harry Thomas Jr. pleaded guilty to stealing more than $350,000 in city funds earmarked for youth sports and arts programs. Thomas resigned after being charged and was replaced in a special election last month. In a separate investigation, two former campaign aides to Gray pleaded guilty to charges stemming from illicit payments intended to encourage a minor candidate in the race to badmouth Adrian Fenty, the then-incumbent.

Brown was elected to the council in 2004 and ascended to chairman in January 2011, after Gray became mayor.

Reports monitoring events at the Wilson Building has confirmed Kwame Brown will resign from the DC Council Thursday June 7, 2012. He is expected to make a statement Wednesday afternoon.

Chairman Kwame R. Brown, (no relation to Chairman General Kwame Safa Kayi of Peace FM in Accra, Ghana) was born on October 13, 1970, in Washington, D.C. He is an American politician in Washington, D.C., who is currently chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia and was an at-large member of the council from 2005 to 2011. Brown graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and participated in the Mayor's Youth Leadership Program. Brown continued his education at Morgan State University in Baltimore, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing. Brown is a graduate of both the Minority Business Executive Program, & Advanced Business Executive Program at the Amos Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College and the Senior Executives in State & Local Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Brown was first elected to the Council in 2004, winning 55.4% of votes citywide in the general election, after defeating incumbent Council member Harold Brazil in the primary with 54.09% of the vote.
Brown was up for reelection in 2008 and faced no opposition in the Democratic primary. When asked why no one was running against him, he stated, "People run because they're tired of elected officials not doing anything." Brown, who lives in Hillcrest, continued, 'No one's running, because I've done what I said I was going to do."