Billy Brown had apparently falsified records of being an Alaskan. From 2010 to 2013, he collected the state’s Permanent Fund Dividend, an annual payout to all residents from local oil money.
They were caught and charged in 2015. Billy and his son, Joshua Brown, plead guilty to multiple counts as part of a plea deal to dismiss a case against the rest of the family members and avoid jail time.
They did have to pay thousands of dollars in fine for their little stunt, though.
Their Alaskan Home was not in The Wilderness.
The fraud charges came after the discovery that Browns did not live in Alaska from 2009 to 2012. However, it has also since come to light that they do not live in their Alaskan Homestead 24/7/365.
Remember when Ami’s estranged mother reconciled with her daughter as she was old and dying in 2016. Still, she arrived at an empty homestead as the entire family was vacationing in Malibu at the time.
However, there is also a report that the family used to relax in the Icy Strait Lodge in town whenever they wrapped filming. The Browns were also spotted frequently in the town. It turns out that their former home in Alaska was not even that far away.
It all came to light when in 2014, we saw the Browns have an intense moment where loud bangs had them fearing for their lives as they thought they were gunshots.
However, it just turned out to be the sound of fireworks. It raised the question of how close they are living to civilization confuse fireworks with gunshots. It turns out that the family lived only half a mile away from their favorite pizza place, and we can only wonder how many pizzas they were ordering.
Difference Then & Now
Back then, there was a time when we would have to debate about the show being fake, but all we have to do is look at the difference in family’s lifestyle.
Currently, it seems as if the Browns are tired of hiding their authentic lifestyle. There was a time when they tried to persuade us that the Alaskan Bush People lived with little human contact and as off-grid as possible.
But nowadays, we have seen the family boldly using large equipment and technology to mend and upgrade their homestead. Also, the Browns would portray their completely lost touch with technology; however, people found an official website that sold Billy Brown’s book.
People also found an old YouTube Channel containing a lot of videos of their real lifestyle. Currently, the majority of Brown children are active in social media.
But skeptics with the evidence at hand know that the Browns were tech-savvy for a while now. Here are just some of the controversies that show us just how the show is scripted and fake.