⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Eleventh Circuit hears consolidated appeals by Reginald Brown and Katrina Brown. The case began with loans and a city grant for Katrina Brown's family's barbecue-sauce business in Jacksonville, Florida. Prosecutors alleged that false invoices drew money from an SBA-backed loan into companies controlled by the Browns, instead of paying for the claimed goods and services. A jury convicted both of fraud-related crimes, and the Eleventh Circuit affirmed their convictions and sentences in 2021. The sentences required restitution to the lender, BizCapital, and the City of Jacksonville. Restitution is money ordered to compensate victims for crime-related losses. After the business defaulted, the Small Business Administration paid the lender under its loan guarantee. In 2024, the district court substituted the SBA for BizCapital as a victim in the restitution order. The Browns challenge that change, not their original convictions. They question the court's power to amend a final order, the evidence linking the SBA's payment to the particular losses, and their chance to object. Katrina Brown's lawyer will argue that the statute does not authorize adding a new victim this way.

United States v. Reginald Brown and Katrina Brown (No. 24-13677) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, argued October 1, 2026.