It's so cold in the D! A federal grand jury indicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, and three former top aides on racketeering charges yesterday. The defendants are accused of turning the mayor's office into a criminal enterprise to enrich themselves, their families and friends. Get the deets inside...
The drama with Kwame Kilpatrick has been going on for years at this point. The former Detroit Mayor, (from left to right) city contractor Bobby Ferguson, former water department chief Victor Mercado, Kwame's father Bernard Kilpatrick and former top aide Derrick Miller are targeted in a huge public corruption investigation announced yesterday.
According to the Detroit Free Press.:
The defendants extorted money from municipal contractors, state and non-profit donors and engaged in bribery and extortion involving other public contracts and investments.
The indictment said that Ferguson kicked back at least $424,000 in cash and other items of value to the mayor and that Kilpatrick used more than $590,000 in cash derived from the conspiracy to pay his credit card bills, purchase cashier's checks and clothing and repay loans.
Bernard Kilpatrick, the indictment said, deposited more than $600,000 in cash into his personal bank accounts. He was charged with three counts of filing false tax returns for calendar years 2004, 2005 and 2007.
One of the major points of contention is whether contractors soliciting city work while Kwame was mayor were pressured to hire his father as a consultant. Bernard Kilpatrick established a consulting firm around the time his son was elected. The FBI has subpoenaed documents from water and sewerage contractors with close ties to the Kilpatricks and city contractor Bobby Ferguson, which will all play a key role.
With all these charges, the defendants are facing anywhere from three to 30 years in prison. Meanwhile, Kwame is already serving a year and half to five years in federal prison for violating probation. And not to mention being outed for cheating on his wife and sexting with one of his employees.
Attorneys for Kwame, his father, and Derrick Miller said they would fight the charges. Attorneys for Victor Mercado's and Bobby Ferguson have not released statements.
See the U.S. Attorney's office hand down the list of corruption charges here:
WOMP. We don't have a ton of black mayors to begin with in this country...so this isn't a good look.
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