You’ve got to hand it to Tiffany Brown, who once described herself on her Twitter page as a “Diva, Mogul, Author.” She has unbridled moxie and a bottomless reservoir of delusional self-assuredness.
She’s also the businesswoman who was convicted last week in federal court of defrauding the federal government of FEMA funds.
Brown, who made her name as an Atlanta dress designer and successful entrepreneur, was convicted last week on 32 counts of fraud, theft and money laundering. A jury found she scammed the government as it responded to a hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico in 2017.
How did she do it? Well, she signed on with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deliver 30 million meals — for a cool $156 million.
That she was a one-woman operation with no real experience in that field? No matter.
Her crime? Overpromising. And then lying and lying. And lying.
Brown, who twice ran for Atlanta mayor (in 2005 and 2009) as a young woman barely out of Spelman College and Clark Atlanta, has never been one to hide her exceptionalism under a bushel basket. She heralded her business as one that partners with “primarily minority-owned businesses that would not otherwise gain opportunities in large-scale contracts.”
She worked the motivational speaking circuit and belonged to the club that believes no dream is too big or out of reach. So when the federal government put out the word: “Can you deliver 30 million self-heating meals for hurricane victims in a month?” The answer was: “No problem.”
Credit: Joy Johnston
Credit: Joy Johnston
Soon after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, FEMA asked for proposals from contractors to deliver meals for the devastated island where nearly 3,000 people were killed.
Within three days of FEMA’s request, Brown said she had access to 210 trucks and was raring to go.
On Oct. 1, 2017, she told FEMA: “I have received firm confirmation from my core suppliers for 30 million self-heating meals in 30 days at $5.10 per meal.”
In just two days, she had a deal.
All the while, Brown was on her phone and keyboard trying to somehow find 30 million self-heating meals. Remember, she is a can-do woman.
She scrambled to line up vendors and trucks, even contacting companies in China and Canada. The best she could do was an East Point wedding caterer who said she could deliver 50,000 meals. And she did. Those meals weren’t the self-heating variety, but that’s the best she could do.
FEMA wanted “self-heating” meals because electrical and gas lines were out in Puerto Rico. To remedy this, Brown contacted a company trying to get 1.5 million handwarmers, thinking that might work. It didn’t.
For weeks, Brown dithered and made excuses as to why the 30 million meals were not coming.
Finally, on Oct. 19, FEMA ended her contract and had to hurry to try and get others to fill the void.
After that, Brown went after another contractor to extract money, even sending emails from fake attorneys.
I could not reach Brown, who is to be sentenced April 22, or the PR company she once hired.
“I don’t have an ‘in,’“ Brown told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in early 2018. “All I am is somebody that wrote a really good proposal about a contract, wanting to help the people of Puerto Rico.”
Credit: NYT
Credit: NYT
That was long before she was indicted in 2022. At the time, Congress was using her case as Exhibit A of a dysfunctional federal agency.
Now, one might wonder why on earth the federal government in such a time of dire need would take the word of a one-woman operation with no real track record? And one would be right to wonder.
In fact, prior to her raising her hand to deliver 30 million meals, she’d been red-flagged by the feds after failing to deliver $27,000 worth of beans, flour and spaghetti to prisons and for screwing up a contract to deliver 3,000 tote bags with the U.S. Marine Corps logo “per specifications.”
Trial testimony showed that FEMA officials were overloaded because there had been a previous hurricane and contractors who could provide self-heating meals had been swamped with orders.
In early 2018, a FEMA spokesperson told the AJC: “At the time of the contract termination there were ample commodity supplies in the pipeline, and distribution was not affected.”
Democratic Congress members were quick to point to Brown as a FEMA fail. Remember, this was during Donald Trump’s first term.
Congressman Stephen Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat, noted that Trump graded the relief effort in Puerto Rico a 10 out of 10.
“I don’t think so,” Lynch said. “It may have been a 10 for Tiffany Brown and (another firm) but it surely hasn’t been a 10 for the people of Puerto Rico or for the U.S. taxpayer.”
Of course, FEMA was roundly criticized for failing to respond to disasters in President Joe Biden’s term. Now, Trump has another chance for FEMA to keep churning out “10s.”
And Brown will assuredly see prison time.
On the speaking circuit, her topics were, “How to be your most creative self”; “How to prepare for success”; and “How to bounce back from failure.”
She’ll have a lot to talk about when she gets out.
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