Yolanda Brown accused of stealing from another campaign, this time in Philly

A Democrat running for Congress in Pennsylvania is the latest victim of alleged campaign theft by Treasurer Yolanda Brown.

Chris Rabb, a Democrat who currently serves as a state Representative, said his now-former campaign Treasurer made unauthorized withdrawals from the campaign account. Rabb declined to say how much he believed to be stolen, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rabb said he reported the alleged theft to the Federal Election Commission and that he has filed paperwork replacing Brown as Treasurer, listing himself in the role instead.

Rabb is one of several Democrats vying for the open race in Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District. A progressive attracting support from leftist groups, Rabb is considered a front-runner, though he has lagged in fundraising, according to reports.

The news comes after Brown was accused of embezzling $207,000 from St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch’s political committee, The Pelican Political Action Committee. Upon discovering the missing funds, Welch’s campaign amended financial reports to show the withdrawals as “unauthorized” expenditures, which were made to O’Reilly Business LLC, a private business active in Florida for which Brown is the registered agent.

Welch’s campaign said it reported the theft to state and federal law enforcement.

News of Welch’s campaign cash woes led to other campaigns discovering similar troubles. Jamie Jodoin, a prominent campaign Treasurer across the state, suspected Brown of stealing more than $30,000 from one of her clients. Several other consultants declined to speak on the record, but also told Florida Politics they had identified suspicious transactions that appeared to be theft.

And Brown’s history goes way back. Brown, under the name Yolanda Cheers, was ordered to pay $330,000 as part of a plea deal in 2024 related to felony grand theft charges of embezzlement in Alameda County, California. A news story in The Mercury at the time listed “Yolanda Brown” as an alias.

At issue was a $4,000 transfer to her own account in 2016 from the nonprofit National Equity Project, for which she controlled the accounting department. Felony charges weren’t filed until 2019 after Cheers (Brown) reportedly attempted to take out a loan in the name of another company she worked for, BWML & Partners.

And in 2023, Brown received a letter from the Federal Election Commission informing her of a negotiated settlement regarding a compliance failure in which the PAC, for which Brown served as Treasurer, failed to disclose all financial activity on its October quarterly report in 2022. The PAC was fined $3,200.

In late 2023, Jennifer Blohm, an attorney representing the Florida Policyholders Cooperative political committee, received a letter from the Florida Elections Commission setting a hearing for Blohm’s appeal, filed in March 2023, to a series of late-filed Treasurer’s reports that had accrued $2,500 in fines.

Brown was not listed as the committee’s Treasurer; Jason Blank was, and remains, The treasurer. But the appeal states that Blank “hired Yolanda Brown of Brown Financial Consulting Services Group LLC to assist him with filing the campaign reports.”

Brown, the appeal asserted, filed a timely waiver, but wrongly filed another report including financial activity that had already been filed in a previous report, thus creating a duplication and prompting a fine. The fine was ultimately waived.

Additionally, while there is no direct evidence of impropriety, Brown also collected from the Florida Democratic Party more than $12,000 from Mar. 13, 2020, through Mar. 1, 2021 — so less than one year — for office supplies, a high number compared to other office supply expenses.

For context, throughout the 2024 election cycle, spanning Jan. 26, 2023, through Jan. 22, 2024, not a single payout from the Florida Democratic Party listed with a purpose of “office supplies,” “office supply,” “office equipment” or “office water” exceeded $1,000, and the total for the entire period was just $2,348.