Yolanda Brown barred from Dem fundraising platform after alleged theft

Yolanda Brown, a prominent Treasurer for Florida Democrats’ campaign and political committee accounts accused of stealing $207,000 from a committee supporting St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, has been barred from ActBlue, the fundraising platform Democrats use to collect funds.

In a letter to consultants who worked with Brown, obtained by Florida Politics, ActBlue said “Brown’s admin access” has been removed and she “no longer has access to your ActBlue account.”

Brown’s access was not removed due to the alleged theft from Welch’s PC, The Pelican Political Action Committee, which he has since replaced with a new, uncompromised committee. Instead, the letter explained the “action was taken after ActBlue became aware that Ms. Brown pled no contest to felony grand theft by embezzlement in Alameda County.”

The letter specifically references the $330,000 Brown was ordered to pay as part of a plea deal over felony grand theft charges under an alias, Yolanda Cheers.

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.

That public relations firm also discovered she had paid herself several bonuses and made unauthorized credit card purchases, including a $10,000 vacation to a vineyard, according to CBS News, which cited prosecutors in the case.

Cheers was originally charged with six felonies — grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of forgery, two counts of identity theft and one count of preparing false documentary evidence — but the plea included just one count of felony grand theft by embezzlement.

Committee officials for Welch’s previous committee, The Pelican Political Action Committee, made public through campaign finance amendments to previous reports the alleged theft, explaining in an amendment that Brown had transferred $207,500 in unauthorized expenditures to O’Reilly Business LLC, a private business active in Florida for which Brown is the registered agent.

Adrienne Bogen, who chairs Welch’s PC, said at the time that committee officials were working with state and federal law enforcement to determine next steps.

But Welch’s committee doesn’t appear to be the only one affected, and allegations of theft are not reserved to just Florida.

Jamie Jodoin, a consultant who works on campaigns across the state, told Florida Politics in January that she suspected Brown had stolen money from one of her clients in South Florida, pointing to more than $30,000 in unauthorized expenditures. Other political consultants who spoke to Florida Politics on background said they also suspected theft, but declined to go on record with their concerns.

In Philadelphia, 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.

The former Treasurer was Brown.

In its letter, ActBlue mentioned recent “public reports of concerns regarding Ms. Brown’s management of political committee funds,” which the group said “reinforced our decision to act.”

“ActBlue takes its responsibility to protect the integrity of funds raised through our platform seriously, and we determined that this step was necessary,” the letter concluded.

For his part, Welch has now launched a new political committee — his third since becoming Mayor — now called St. Petersburg Progress PAC, which replaced the PC from which Brown is accused of stealing funds.

The state revoked his original committee, the Pelican PAC, citing its failure to file timely reports, its failure to appoint a replacement Treasurer after one resigned, and its failure to maintain a registered office and registered agent.