Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been again criminally charged. This time, he is not only facing a massive federal indictment for corruption but his co-defendants will include his father and three associates over millions of dollars that went to contractors. After his prior conviction, Kilpatrick has not exactly proven an ideal parolee.
The 89-page indictment accuses Kwame and Bernard Kilpatrick, top mayoral aide Derrick Miller, contractor Bobby Ferguson and former water department boss Victor Mercado. Ferguson is identified as the hub of the alleged conspiracy by accepting millions of dollars for work that was either fraudulent or not performed. What is striking is that the indictment says that the corruption continued up to Kwame Kilpatrick’s last three weeks in office.
One allegation stemming from 2001 involves Kilpatrick’s support for a homeless shelter’s bid for a multimillion-dollar county contract — after his own nonprofit civic fund received a $50,000 contribution from the shelter’s owner.
The indictment lays out an impressive array of payoffs from cash to private jet trips to spa visits to yoga classes.
The racketeering, bribery, extortion and fraud charges could bring 30 year sentences.
This is only the latest such corruption case (here and here) which has thinned the ranks of the Detroit powerful establishment. The question is why the people of Detroit has allowed such gross corruption to continue in their city. It is often said that, in a democracy, voters receive the leaders they deserve but no one deserves this lot.
The article below contains details of the corruption allegations.
Source: Freep
Jonathan Turley
I think there is a fact pattern that correlates claims or evidence of judicial misconduct with behind the scenes operation of insurance companies that aren’t registered, or fully registered, with state insurers in violation of the McCarran Ferguson Act.
The number one company characteristic to look for I think is “Lloyds”.
It’s the old follow the money. When it comes to insurance of local governments,I just can’t imagine a legitimate reason why Lloyds would be involved.
My life got totally screwed up because of a boundary dispute I had with a local government official in Steamboat Springs CO. This started with the blockade of a street and public passageway, which is a crime in Colorado. Part of the reason why the problem wasn’t solved promptly was an Access to Courts issue. Not just anyone could get away with blockading a street but my neighbor could and for the same reasons I couldn’t get comprehensive legal representations.
What I would do is amend the enabling acts for local government risk sharing. I might even offer small rewards for reports of small scale government corruption and I would make it super easy to get an independent hearing. I would probably have investigators I would send out with those great new office vans. I would send them to the scene with video and audio recorders and take depositions on the spot while date and time stamping everything.
Maybe there are some local government insurers who have a different model of doing business than Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency. But my problem was known by the city attorney and assistant city attorney, chief of police etc. years before I ever filed a lawsuit. A police officer filed a long report about it in 1995 and I communicated about it on different occasions. If these programs, which are paid for by public funds and affect the implementation of government, are to benefit the public than they need to operate to expose government misconduct and nip it in the bud instead of covering it up.
It seems to me that our local government policies are being set in back rooms, possibly back rooms in London, Bermuda, Cayman Islands etc. and possibly in back rooms with strippers and hookers.
This must fit into one of the FBI Taskforces.
This goes deeper. I hope the DA keeps digging.
I sued the City of Steamboat Springs CO in federal court for corruption that affected me personally. As part of that I got a copy of an insurance policy sold to the city that covered employee crime. The same organization, Colorado Intergovernmental Risk Sharing Agency, also sold public officials errors and omissions insurance.
So there is probably similar insurance in Detroit.
In Colorado, CIRSA only pays for first $400,000 of a claim. After that reinsurance is supposed to kick in. In the past, CIRSA’s reinsurers included Lloyds of London according to documents I got from the Colorado Division of Insurance. I think the reinsurers however never paid any claim regarding CIRSA. The City of Granby CO was also a CIRSA customer but when disgruntled litigant Marvin Heemeyer committed suicide by cop and destroyed the city hall building with an armored bull dozer he had welded himself into, the State of Colorado paid instead of CIRSA.
BTW:
I have to share this story and one thing it dosen’t mention is the person is free on their own recognizance,I read it three times to make sure I read it right.
MONTCLAIR — A former nursing supervisor at a Montclair surgery center will be sentenced in March after she pleaded guilty today in Newark to stealing more than $900,000 from the center through misuse of company credit cards and thefts from company bank accounts.
Heidi Facchini pleaded guilty to theft by deception and criminal tax evasion, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.
The state will recommend Facchini receive a probationary term when she is sentenced March 14 by Superior Court Judge Michael Petrolle, who took her plea.
Facchini admitted she began stealing from the North Fullerton Surgery Center in 2005. Her theft was discovered when she left the center in 2009, authorities said.
Authorities said she used company credit cards to purchase Rolex watches, vacations, gifts, children’s clothing and home furnishings, disguising them as legitimate business expenses for medical supplies.
Facchini also admitted to duplicating American Express payments on the company’s accounting ledger to cover up wire transfers she made of more than $500,000 from the center’s checking account to her own personal bank account.
The investigation by the state of more than a year also uncovered the theft of patient cash payments, drugs and supplies from the center, authorities said.
The case was handled in court by state Deputy Attorney General Betty Rodriguez.
“One allegation stemming from 2001 involves Kilpatrick’s support for a homeless shelter’s bid for a multimillion-dollar county contract — after his own nonprofit civic fund received a $50,000 contribution from the shelter’s owner.”
Couldn’t be any better description of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”
Are the Detroit Building inspectors involved? If so there are more problems pending if they granted permits to buildings that skimped on or substituted materials because if they did that with the water department construction they might have done that with any construction.
I think there is corruption in politics whenever there aren’t effective system controls regardless of race.
Let’s blog about how U.S. District Judge Feikens was involved instead of blogging about black politicians:
“Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch said he’s raised issues for years about contracts issued to Ferguson and presented them to U.S. District Judge John Feikens, who oversaw the water department for decades until his retirement last month. Feikens did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.”
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101215/METRO/12150413/Metro-Detroit-leaders-hope-charges-pave-way-for-reform#ixzz18HP6kXD8
And so what is normal to Detroit and the rest of the world is not the same….to wit Coleman Young…..
This idiot is going to make Illinois forget about Blago! Greed in politics knows no boundary, just like in the corporate world.