BATON ROUGE - State officials charged a developer for an affordable housing project near Scotland Avenue with multiple financial crimes, court records show.

Bradley Brown was charged with felony theft over $25,000, three counts of bank fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, money laundering and filing false public records.

Brown's project, "Housing for Heroes", received over $6 million in allocated American Rescue Plan Act funds approved by the Metro Council to be used to build affordable housing for essential workers. It was set to cost over $11 million to create 36 low-income apartments for health care workers and professionals.

The state alleged that Brown attempted to defraud three separate banks of over $1.2 million between December 2021 and August 2022. They also claim Brown stole around $25,000 from the city of Baton Rouge.

The project previously faced delays in 2023 after former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said developers hadn't met federal requirements.