Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown seeks payment plan for restitution

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A former member of Congress from Northeast Florida is looking for an interest-free payment plan for her federal debt.

Corrine Brown, who represented the Jacksonville region from 1993 through 2016, pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of tax fraud in her felony case that rocked Northeast Florida political circles years ago.

A condition of that settlement was restitution in the amount of $62,650.99. But Brown, aged 77, is having trouble satisfying that condition, per federal court records from the Middle District of Florida.

Brown’s filing for a modification of the restitution order claims “the Court did not set a schedule for such monthly payments,” and that “despite her best efforts, Brown has been unable to reach an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service for the monthly restitution payments.”

“Brown would not trouble the Court over this matter if she had been able to reach an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service as contemplated by the Court, but that has proved impossible,” the filing continues.

If this filing is accepted, it sets the stage for Brown making installment payments past her 82nd birthday.

Documents show Brown has a second tax lien totaling $211,943, but the filing with the Middle District doesn’t address that obligation. Both liens are attached to a property at 611 Appian Way, which Duval County tax records show is in the name of the former legislator’s daughter, Shantrel Brown.

Prior to the plea deal on one count, Brown had previously been convicted on a raft of counts related to her nonperforming One Door for Education charity. But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the conviction, ordering a new trial that ultimately was avoided. However, she was imprisoned while the appellate process proceeded.

Her theory that a pro-Brown juror being eliminated from the jury pool during her original hearing was illegal was roundly derided, until it prevailed in court, with the appellate court agreeing that Judge Timothy Corrigan wrongfully purged a juror for saying the holy spirit told him Brown was not guilty, invoking religious authorities ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther in a defense of an individual’s right to religious freedom and latitude of expression.

After days of deliberation during the former Congresswoman’s trial, the so-called “Juror 13” claimed that the “Holy Spirit” had told him before and during the trial that Brown wasn’t guilty.

The juror then was removed over the fruitless protests of Brown’s attorneys during the early slog of deliberations.

Brown served Jacksonville in Congress from 1992 to 2016, with her district extending as far away as Orlando, until her last election in 2016. That map ran from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. The new map represented a final sea change in Brown’s political career. Under indictment and unable to raise money, she lost in the Primary to former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson.

That district, which ended up running east-west to the Tallahassee area, was eliminated in congressional redistricting in 2022.

Brown ran for Congress in Central Florida that year, but lost in the Primary to eventual U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost. She has not had much involvement in politics since then, staying out of Jacksonville’s 2023 elections.