The developer of a stalled, multi-million-dollar East Baton Rouge Parish housing complex faces a raft of charges for alleged financial crimes.
h Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office on Friday filed a bill of information charging 35-year-old Bradly Brown — owner of KMT Holdings and Development LLC — with theft over $25,000, bank fraud, illegal transfer of monetary funds, money laundering and filing false public records.
In 2021, the East Baton Rouge Metro Council unanimously approved $6 million in federal dollars for Brown to build an $11 million affordable housing complex in Scotlandville known as “Housing for Heroes.”
State prosecutors say Brown intentionally stole funds from the city-parish, defrauded three different banks of more $1.2 million, knowingly acquired money as a result of criminal activity and made false statements in documents filed with the city-parish.
Brown and his company were the subject of federal grand jury subpoenas issued in May 2024. Federal authorities ordered the city-parish to turn in documents related to the Housing for Heroes project and emails, text messages and other communications between Brown and City Hall officials.
Murrill’s office declined to comment Friday, citing “additional ongoing criminal investigations.” “When we can provide more information, we will” a spokesperson said.
It is unclear if the Attorney General's case is related to the federal investigation.
Reached Friday, Brown denied wrongdoing but declined to comment further.
To date, less than $1 million of the awarded funds have been paid to the developer. Construction has yet to begin on the project, which was pitched as 36 low-income apartments for essential health care workers and professionals.
The bill of information filed Friday includes three separate counts of bank fraud. On one count, prosecutors say Brown "executed or attempted to execute a scheme" to defraud the Bank of Montgomery in the amount of $787,000 in December 2021.
According to a 2022 civil suit filed by the bank, Brown took out a $787,000 loan and used land slated for the Housing for Heroes development as collateral. Although he had been approved for federal funding at the time, none of that money had yet been disbursed.
Less than six months after approving the loan, the bank moved to seize the property — and later won that request — even as the Housing for Heroes project was still underway.
On the two other counts of fraud, prosecutors accuse Brown of defrauding or attempting to defraud Citizens Bank of $263,000 and Home Bank of $229,000.
The specifics on what fraudulent actions investigators believe took place were not spelled out in the charges filed Friday morning.
The Housing for Heroes project began during Sharon Weston Broome’s tenure as mayor-president. Emails obtained through a records request show that, as early as 2022, Broome slowed the project after learning of compliance concerns and instructed the developer and her staff to make sure it met federal guidelines.
Following Friday's charges, current Mayor-President Sid Edwards — who took office at the start of 2025 — said in a statement that his administration paused work on Housing for Heroes after investigators contacted his office.
“Shortly after taking office as Mayor-President, I ordered a review of all federal and state projects and programs to prevent any misuse of tax dollars," Edwards said.
Community development policies were revised, the mayor said, and his administration changed processes to ensure compliance with legal regulations.
"Those changes included stopping funds from being distributed before work was performed on projects and before real invoices were presented by developers for reimbursement," Edwards said. "During the process of our reviews and reforms, we were contacted by investigative agencies about this case, and we complied with their requests for assistance and information. Also, during this time, we paused the work on this project in an effort to save tax dollars that might be otherwise at risk.”
