JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two former JEA executives involved in a trial that started this week are accused of being in orchestrating one of the greatest schemes to defraud taxpayers in the history of Jacksonville, according to experts.
Former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and former JEA CFO Ryan Wannemacher are facing federal charges of conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with the utility’s proposed sale, which could have netted the pair and other JEA executives millions of dollars through a controversial bonus plan tied to the sale.
TIMELINE: The federal case against two former JEA executives | JEA Scandal: A closer look at Jacksonville’s largest fraud case
The JEA scandal rocked the city and the two could face 25 years in federal prison if convicted, but it’s far from the first headline-grabbing politically-connected scandal to hit the Jacksonville area in recent years.
In the 1960s a corruption scandal led to consolidation and nearly a dozen city officials were indicted, and others were forced to resign, according to the Jacksonville Historical Society.
But here are some more recent scandals involving sex, barbecue sauce, and corruption that you might remember.
Darryl Daniels was the Clay County Sheriff from 2016 to 2020. He lost his reelection campaign when he was prosecuted on charges connected to a sex scandal in 2019.
Daniels was accused of destroying the evidence and lying to investigators to cover up his long-term affair with a former JSO corrections officer.
MORE: Former Clay sheriff Daniels told investigators he sent mistress $60K over course of relationship
A jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all seven counts against Daniels including accusations of tampering with evidence, attempted destruction of evidence and five counts of lying to law enforcement.
Daniels is now trying to revive his political career and announced he is running for sheriff again against current Sheriff Michelle Cook.
Ex-Jacksonville City Council members Katrina Brown and Reggie Brown, who are not related, were sentenced to 33 months and 18 months, respectively, after they were convicted in a case stemming from a federally-backed loan and a city grant obtained for a barbecue sauce business owned by Katrina Brown’s family.
MORE: Katrina Brown, Reggie Brown business timeline
The barbecue sauce business received a multimillion-dollar Small Business Administration loan and a grant from the city of Jacksonville, but prosecutors said the company existed only on paper.
Prosecutors said companies controlled by Reggie Brown used fake invoices to take in nearly $500,000, keeping $50,000 for himself and funneling the rest to Katrina Brown’s company.
A federal judge sentenced former Jacksonville Port Authority Vice Chairman Tony Nelson to 40 months in prison in 2012 following bribery and fraud convictions.
Nelson was found guilty of accepting bribes from contractors doing business with the port. He was convicted of 36 corruption-related charges after a jury was shown evidence that he failed to disclose nearly $150,000 he received from Subaqueous Services (SSI), an Orlando-based dredging company that did work at the Dames Point container terminal.
Former state attorney Jeff Siegmeister received a 40-month prison sentence in 2022 for everything from taking bribes to taking advantage of an elderly man and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.
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He resigned in December 2019 and pleaded guilty to federal charges including conspiracy, extortion and fraud as part of a plea deal.
The indictment shows the FBI caught on to what Siegmeister was doing and that’s when Siegmeister fled the state. He was eventually caught in Arizona.
Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown was convicted in 2017 of 18 counts in the charity fraud case and served more than two years of her five-year sentence in prison before her release on humanitarian grounds.
In 2022, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud in her federal case, admitting that she lied to the IRS about her income and about deductions she had claimed.
As part of a plea deal, the other 17 counts against Brown were dropped, and she was sentenced to 32 months of time served and was ordered to pay restitution of $62,650 to the IRS.
Later in 2022, Brown launched an unsuccessful bid for Congress.
Former St. Johns County Commissioner Tom Manuel in 2009 pleaded guilty to one count of bribery involving the developer of Twin Creeks.
According to the plea agreement, Manuel, while serving on the St. Johns County Commission, accepted $10,000 and $50,000, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with the business of the St. Johns County Commission.
Manuel was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by 16 months of home detention.
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