Brown and WTOP/ABC 7 reporter Mark Segraves got into a contentious exchange on Tuesday when Segraves asked him about a potential deal he was making with prosecutors about campaign spending irregularities.

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Numerous staff members left Brown's city hall office without speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Segraves reports.

Brown was elected to the council in 2004 and ascended to chairman in January 2011, after Gray became mayor.

The fraud charge is the latest scandal in the D.C. Council. In late May, two former aides to D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray pleaded guilty to election-related violations.

Howard Brooks was charged with lying to the FBI about payments to another mayoral candidate, Sulaimon Brown. Brown received more than $2,000 in 10 money orders and an undetermined amount of cash to speak out against former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty during the mayoral 2010 race.

Shortly before Brooks pleaded guilty, another Gray campaign staffer, Thomas Gore, admitted that he and Brooks paid Brown to stay in the 2010 race and make negative comments about Fenty.

ABC 7's Sam Ford and The Associated Press contributed to the story.