the indictment alleges that in december of 2011 defendant karen nicholas as the ceo for educational advancement alliance sought $409,000 grant from noaa to cover the cost of fattah annual national conference on hire education. after grant application was partially approved nicholas received $50,000 for the conference. however, the conference never took place and nicholas used the grant funds to pay $20,000 to another member of the criminal enterprise, paid $2,000 to her attorney and wrote several checks to herself from eaa's operating conference account. nicholas falsely reported to noaa the conference took place in october of 2012 and even claimed congressman fattah was keynote speaker at fictional event. receipt maining 28 counts in indictment consistent of substantive and related criminal charges that form the pattern of racketeering activity i just outlined. those crimes include bribery, conspiracy to commit mail wire and services fraud and multiple counts of mail fraud, false fiction of records, bank fraud, making false statements to a financial institution and money laundering. it is impo

karen nicholas was chief executive officers of educational advancement alliance, that nonprofit the congressman founded. herbert vederman was a lobbyist and senior consultan and robert brand is the founder of company two. brand is also the spouse of a former fattah congressional staffer. >>> here is more background on congressman fattah. >> that was chaka fattah in 1994 shortly after winning his bid for congress. at the time he was a 37-year-old state senator. he grew up in west philadelphia. what happens next? important to note congressman fattah is not under arrest. he will have to appear in court but no date has been set. >> the indictment points to his wife nbc10's anchor renee

karen nicholas was chief executive officer of educational advancement alliance a nonprofit. herbert betteman was a lobbyist and senior consultant the. robert brand is the founder of company two. brand is also the spouse of a former fattah congressional staffer. >>> last year a former aide testified in federal court to helping fattah conceal schemes. chaka fattah's son was indicted late last year on his own federal bank fraud and tax evasion charges. he believes he's done nothing wrong, in had fact he believes the feds indicted him to get him to testify against his father. the former societies who plead guilty face sentencing in december. >> we are elated that we're going to have an opportunity to go to -- >> that was chaka fattah in 1994 shortly after toppling lucien black well in his bid for congress. fattah is now serving his 11th term in the u.s. congress. today he announced he is recusing himself from his leadership position on the powerful house appropriations committee. >>> fattah grew up in west philadelphia, his roots in the city are deep and so is his impact. george

karen nicholas was chief executive officer of a nonprofit the congressman founded. former deputy mayor in philadelphia was a finance director and lobbyist is vederman. robert brand. he is the founder of company two, a philadelphia based public policy technology company and he is the spouse of a former fattah congressional staffer. >>> fattah is not under arrest and no court date hash set. let's take a look what happened. last year a former man neiler testified. greg neiler admitted last year in federal court helping the congressman conceal finance related fraud schemes and thomas vederman last year. the son of fattah is also indicted and said he has done nothing wrong and believes the feds indicted him hoping to get him to testify against his father and his trial starts later this year. the two former fattah associates face sentencing in december. >>> congressman fattah grew up in west philadelphia. his roots in the city are deep. so is his impact. back in march, the congressman was at this launch party in center city for the big brothers big sisters mentoring resou

karen nicholas was chief executive officer of occasionally advancement alliance. herbert vederman was a finance director a lobbyist and senior consultant. and robert brand is the founder of company two, a philadelphia-based public policy technology company. brand is the spouse of a former fattah former congressional staffer. last year a former aide greg neiler knitted to helping fattha to finance schemes. chaka fattah's son was indicted late last year on his own federal bank fraud and tax invasion charges and he says he has done nothing wrong and believes the feds indicted him hoping to get him to testify against his father. his trial starts later this year. the two associates face charges in december. what happens next? important to know that congressman fattah is indicted and he is confident he will be cleared of the charges. nbc10 and renee chenault-fattah is on believe from this station. you can read the entire indictment on our nbc10 mobile app. it's all there for you. >>> breaking news from overnight. detectives want to know if drag racing led to a violent c

karen nicholas was ceo of educational advanced alliance fattah's nonprofit that used to be here on market street. the indictment alleges nicholas and brand conspired to pay back an unlawful loan fattah arranged for his mayoral campaign using grant money meant for eaa. bonnie bouser was chief of fattah's philadelphia district offices and treasurer for fattah's mayoral and congressional campaign. the indictment alleges she conspired with lindenfeld and greg nailer to get an unlawful $1 million loan for fattah's 2007 mayoral campaign. nailer pled guilty last year under a separate indictment. he admitted using grant funds to repay the $1 million. former federal prosecutors say charging the defendants under the rico act leaves them facing stiffer penalties if convicted. the maximum sentence is 20 years on each count. fattah has maintained he and others are innocent of the charges. >> harry hairston thank you. we have continuing coverage on nbc10.com and the nbc 10 app. read the full 85 page indictment in its entirety and read more from nbc 10 anchor renee chenault-fattah. >>> a mother wakes up

karen nicholas also charged and herbert vederman and robert brand. he is the founder of company two, a philadelphia based public policy technology company and he is the spouse of a former fattah congressional staffer. now the indictment also points to fattah's wife nbc10 anchor renee chenault-fattah as being involved in part of the alleged crimes but she is not criminally charges and renee is on leave from the station. >>> let's take a look what led up to yesterday's indictment. greg neiler admitted last year in federal court helping the congressman conceal finance related fraud schemes and thomas venterman last year. fattah jr. says he has done nothing wrong and believe the feds indicted him hoping to get him to testify against his father and his trial starts later this year. the two former fattah associates face sentencing in december. so much more of this story we will look at. ahead at 5:30 we will take a look at the congressman's political journey and what voters in his district have to say about this indictment and what comes next in the legal

. >> reporter: in the final scheme prosecutors also say karen nicholas ceo of fattah's nonprofit occasionally group, got $50,000, a federal grant for an education program, higher education program that never happened. count on nbc10 to stay on top of the ongoing investigation, as well as bring you any developments as they happen. live now from winfield monique braxton, nbc10 news. >>> fattah is serving his 11th term in congress. yesterday he announced he is recusing himself on the house appropriations committee. he grew up in west philadelphia and his roots for the city is deep and he was at this launch party in center city for the big bothers and big sisters resource center a center funded in part of fattah's help. now lead prosecutors are thinking funding could be harder to come by with fattah under investigation. in a statement, fattah said he stepped down from his community leadship role but he insisted the charges would not distract him from his work for the district. >>> the indictment points to his wife nbc10's news anchor renee chenault-fattah as being involved in part of the alleged

karen nicholas mock etted cash used from federal grant money for an educational seminar fatah never held. his long time congressional district assistant the helped cover up the cashflow. brandt took part in the alleged crimes. 29 counts in this indictment and some of those penalties are pretty hefty, with racketeering and bribery carrying each a maximum of 20 years in prison. reporting live outside city hall deanna durante, nbc10 news. >> congressman fatah was in washington when the indictment was announced today. nbc10's keith jones is live now in our digital operations center with more on what the congressman had to say today. >> he's going to let his attorney handle this matter, he wants to continue to focus on helping his constituents. >> all i want to say is i spent my time helping people. i'm going to spend my time helping millions more and i'm going to let my attorney -- it's going to be important to my constituents that this not be a distraction in terms of my would, and i'm going to try not to have it be a distraction. >> this is not deflategate. >> this is a normal issue of all

karen nicholas was a former congressional staffer. the indictment alleges she and brand conspired to pay back an unlawful loan fattah arranged for his mayoral campaign using grant money meant for the eaa. bonnie bouser was district chief for fattah's philadelphia district offices and treasurer for his mayoral and congressional campaigns. the indictment alleges she conspired for getting an unlawful $1 million loan for fattah's 2007 mayoral campaign. under a separate indictment nailer admitted using grant funds to repay the $1 million loan. charging the defendants with the rico act leaves them facing stiffer penalties if convicted. fattah has maintained he is innocent of the charges. >> harry hairston live for us in the digital operations center. the indictment against congressman fattah also points to his wife, nbc 10 news anchor renee chenault-fattah. >> she is not charged with a crime but federal agents say she and her husband faked a car sale to gain money to secure a mortgage for a vacation home purchase. >> chenault-fattah is now