** Scroll to the bottom of this story for Day Two trial highlights**
Former Jacksonville City Councilmembers Katrina Brown and Reginald Brown, no relation, are back in court Tuesday, marking their second day of trial.
Reginald Brown arrived at the Federal Courthouse just before 8:30 a.m. He waved to cameras but didn't have a comment, then proceeded inside.
Katrina Brown arrived in a white SUV and told the On Your Side team she will “keep working,” in reference to the next few days of the trial.
The trial of Katrina and Reggie Brown continued with the federal government’s fifth witness.
Prosecutors questioned at length Frank Palmisano, an executive with Biz Capital in New Orleans and administrator of the $2.65 million Small Business Administration loan the Browns are charged with misusing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tysen Duva walked Palmisano through a series of emails and invoices, including two in particular that the government says were fraudulent – an invoice for furniture purchased, and a $6,000 payment to an alleged employee.
Both the owner of the furniture company and the alleged employee will be called to testify at trial, prosecutors say, and will admit the fraud.
Duval also questioned Palmisano about invoices from Reggie Brown’s two businesses, A Plus Training and RB Packaging, which Katrina Brown submitted for loan reimbursement. The invoices, totaling tens of thousands of dollars, were for employee training and factory supplies that the government says were not provided or did not exist.
Prosecutors showed a series of emails from Brown seeking swift payment of the invoices, suggesting the company was deep into production of barbecue sauce.
“We need those bottles ASAP,” she wrote on July 2014. “We have order to fill.”
Palmisano testified said he had received no training to detect fraud and had seen no other instances of fraud in his 10 years on the job.
“We trust that what’s being provided is truthful and accurate,” he said.
“Painful" was the word several observers used to describe watching Katrina Brown plead her case.
There were no jaw-dropping antics or major gaffes, but still, the mood in Courtroom 10 B is often one of stunned silence. Brown struggles to conform to basic courtroom procedures like introducing evidence or cross-examining witnesses. Even when she’s on task, her questions fail to land as intended and are frequently misunderstood by witnesses and spectators.
District Judge Marcia Morales Howard corrected Brown on occasion. “You need to ask a question,” she reminded her after she made a statement to the Biz Capital executive she was cross-examining.
On another occasion, “You can’t talk about things that are not in evidence.”
The judge called multiple sidebars during court Tuesday, and the jury was at times growing visibly restless.
Court will end at 4 p.m. Tuesday, somewhat early, due to a medical issue of Katrina Brown’s standby counsel.
Prosecutors raised concerns today about ending early. Duva noted, “We’re a little behind where we thought we’d be.”
Judge Marcia Morales Howard replied, “then I suggest you keep a pace.”
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
DAY TWO HIGHLIGHTS:
(There are no tweets allowed from inside the courtroom. First Coast News will update this story during official breaks.)
- Reggie Brown offers a comment to reporters as he leaves.
- The trial is expected to last two weeks.
- Court will end at early at 4 p.m., due to a medical issue of Katrina Brown’s standby counsel.
- Palmisano testified said he had received no training to detect fraud and had seen no other instances of fraud in his 10 years on the job.
- Palmisano questioned about invoices from Reggie Brown’s two businesses. The invoices, totaling tens of thousands of dollars, were for employee training and factory supplies that the government says were not provided or did not exist.
- Prosecutors questioned at length Frank Palmisano, an executive with Biz Capital in New Orleans and administrator of the $2.65 million Small Business Administration loan the Browns are charged with misusing.
- Reginald Brown arrived at the Federal Courthouse just before 8:30 a.m. He waved to cameras but didn't have a comment, then proceeded inside.
- Katrina Brown arrived in a white SUV and told the On Your Side team she will “keep working,” in reference to the next few days of the trial.
- Bank manager Ravershaw Troup testified that she saw both Reggie and Katrina Brown come to her branch of the BBVA Compass Bank on more than one occasion. She testified that on one occasion, Katrina Brown accidentally filled out Reggie Brown’s name on a deposit slip for a check from Reggie Brown’s company, causing the money to be redeposited into his account. She later called Troup to correct the error and have the money redirected to her bank account.
- Jane Bouda with the City of Jacksonville testified that part of the city grant given to Katrina Brown, she promised to create 56 jobs on or before April 2016, or would have to repay the money.
- Bouda will return to the stand Wednesday morning, and will be followed by two key witnesses who allegedly participated in Katrina Brown’s fraudulent reimbursement scheme.
- Vanderen Gantt is expected to testify he submitted a phony invoice for furniture, then collected $1,000 off the top that Katrina owed him.
- Tommy Hogan is expected to testify that Katrina Brown falsely claimed he was a 1099 employee, he was paid $6,000. The government says he never worked there.
- Prosecutors say they want to call 11 witnesses tomorrow. If they do so they say they will be on schedule for a Friday finish to the government’s case.