We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown has told his colleagues he’ll resign, several councilmember told LL after a closed meeting in the Wilson Building. He also apologized to the council.
Brown said his pending guilty plea had nothing to do with his public life, according to several councilmembers.
He’ll be making a public statement later today, they said.
Prosecutors filed court papers today laying out one charge of bank fraud that Brown will plead guilty to. The charge stems from a loan against his home equity that Brown took out in 2008 from Industrial Bank to pay for “Bullet Proof,” his boat. Brown allegedly overstated his income by tens of thousands of dollars. LL would note that Brown’s income from his job on the D.C. Council was, at the time, a matter of public record. What’s not clear yet: Whether the feds could have charged Brown with more, but refrained as part of the plea deal.
UPDATE, 4:26 p.m.:
Brown just left the Wilson Building declining to answer any questions. “I’ll have a comment tomorrow. Thank you, no comment as of now,” Brown said.
As he left his office, there was plenty of pushing and screaming between Brown’s angry-looking staff and an uber-aggressive media.
UPDATE, 4:39 p.m.: Mayor Vince Gray just issued this statement on Brown: “I’m shocked by the news; I am disappointed and saddened. I was elected to the council when Chairman Brown was elected to an at-large position. I served with him my entire time on the council. Never would I have imagined something like this would occur.”
UPDATE, 6:36 p.m.: NBC4 has posted video of the scene as Brown left his office and walked to an elevator down the hall:
UPDATE, 8:39 p.m.: The Washington Post has the text of Brown’s resignation letter, effective immediately, which he submitted earlier this afternoon. Which means Brown has officially resigned.
EARLIER: D.C. Council Chairman Kwame “Fully Loaded” Brown will resign “soon,” but not today, a source very close to Brown tells LL.
The source says soon means either tomorrow or Friday.
The Washington Post is reporting that Brown will be charged with fraud in a criminal information, possibly as early as today. That would mean Brown intends to plead guilty to the charges; criminal informations can only be filed with the consent of the defendant. He’d said yesterday he had “no plans to resign.”
Stand by for more news as LL gets it.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery