Corruption: Former President of National Charity Arrested and Charged in $4 Million Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme | Mike Hitchen Online: i On Global Trends

23.10.13

Corruption: Former President of National Charity Arrested and Charged in $4 Million Fraud and Money Laundering Scheme | Mike Hitchen Online: i On Global Trends

U.S. Attorney’s Office 
District of Oregon

PORTLAND, OR—Amanda Marshall, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, today announced the arrest of Beaverton resident Brian J. Brown, 56, former president of National Relief Charities, and the unsealing of an indictment charging Brown with conspiring to defraud National Relief Charities of $4 million and conspiring to commit money laundering violations with the proceeds of the fraud scheme. FBI and IRS agents arrested Brown Sunday morning, October 20, at Portland International Airport as Brown returned to the United States from Thailand and Japan.

The indictment, returned under seal on October 9, alleges that in late 2005, when Brown stepped down as the president of National Relief Charities, a national charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for Native Americans, he established a nonprofit company called Charity One Inc., dba American Indian Education Endowment Fund. Brown then allegedly induced National Relief Charities to fund Charity One Inc. with $4 million from 2006 through 2009, which Brown represented would be used to fund educational scholarships for Native Americans. Instead, Brown and unnamed coconspirators allegedly used the entire $4 million for their personal benefit.