A special grand jury in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, indicted an aide to former Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome on Wednesday on multiple felony counts related to an alleged kickback scheme.
WBRZ reported that the indictment is part of a broader corruption probe spearheaded by the Louisiana attorney general’s office into spending tied to Broome’s “Safe, Hopeful, Healthy Baton Rouge” violence prevention initiative.
The indictment targets Courtney Monique Scott and businesswoman Veronica D. Mathis. Both are facing charges for conspiracy, theft, bribery, money laundering, and public contract fraud.
A wide-ranging probe of City Hall affairs ensnared another public employee Wednesday when a grand jury indicted a former top administrator for former mayor Sharon Weston Broome.
The panel named Courtney Scott in nine counts and also brought eight charges against Veronica Mathis, whose company provided assistance to Broome's "Safe Hopeful Healthy Baton Rouge" program. Scott oversaw Broome's "Healthy City" initiative, which benefited from the use of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
"That's a program that was under the previous administration, look several things came before the council, we approved it for what it was supposed to be for, what happened with that, you know it's a bad thing," East Baton Rouge Metro Councilman Aaron Moak said.
Scott and Mathis each face allegations including conspiracy, theft, bribery, money laundering and public contract fraud, while Scott is also accused of malfeasance as a government employee.
Officials confirmed Mathis was booked into prison around 9:45 p.m.
Scott worked for Broome until July 2024, when she was accused of beating a man outside a Baton Rouge night club. She resigned, and a video of the incident popped up after a lawsuit was filed.
Mathis’ company provided assistance to the Safe, Hopeful, Healthy program. The parish paid the company more than $50,000 between 2020 and 2024. Other investigations found contracts totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars tied to the program.
Scott is alleged to have used her position inside Broome’s administration to steer government contracts to Mathis’ firm. In exchange, the company gave Scott a cut of the profits.
Mathis’ company, Build Brand Design, received contracts totaling around $738,894 from the Safe, Hopeful, Healthy Baton Rouge initiative. She allegedly paid Scott about $193,937 in kickbacks.
Former Sharon Weston Broome staffer Courtney Scott was indicted yesterday along with a contractor. AG Liz Murrill’s office says the two were involved in a kickback scheme from 2021-24.
— Patrick Sloan-Turner (@PatSloanTurner) February 26, 2026
Scott got about $200k in taxpayer funds, officials say.https://t.co/zt6Uzq5F9y
Prosecutors accuse Scott of running the kickbacks through her own company, The Bryan Group, to conceal her financial interests even though ethics training and city rules bar public employees from benefiting from contracts tied to their own programs.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A grand jury has indicted former Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Courtney Scott and businesswoman Veronica Mathis on corruption charges stemming from an alleged kickback scheme involving city-parish contracts,… pic.twitter.com/tDyOTNi6Tt
— Qᴀɢɢ.ɴᴇᴡꜱ (@qaggnews) February 27, 2026
The two individuals allegedly operated the scheme between 2021 and 2024.
This is one in a long string of kickback and fraud schemes that have surfaced in the state over the past year. The attorney general’s investigation also led to the indictment of five people for allegedly filing false reports and using pre-arranged contracts to defraud the Capital Area Transit System (CATS) of tens of thousands of dollars, according to WBRZ.