White-collar crime turned human when two Jacksonville men told jurors Wednesday they cashed checks worth thousands of dollars and handed most of the money to a woman behind the payments, former City Council member Katrina Brown.
Vandaren Gantt testified in the fraud trial of Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown that checks he received for $6,083 and $1,500 were for furniture sales he never performed at the ex-councilwoman’s family business.
Tommie Hogan talked about cashing checks totaling $6,000 but keeping just $1,000 of that and being hauled in front of a grand jury.
Both men were paid by checks drawn against a federally backed $2.65 million small-business loan Katrina Brown’s family won for its company, Basic Products LLC, to launch a factory making Jerome Brown BBQ Sauce.
Read the rest of this story from WJCT News partner The Florida Times-Union here.
