Was drug dealer source of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick bribe? DETROIT, May 25 (UPI) -- Federal agents are trying to determine whether an alleged $100,000 bribe to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was drug money, The Detroit News reports.
Detroit businessman Abner McWhorter allegedly paid Kilpatrick to secure a $10 million loan from the pension fund. McWhorter has since committed suicide. The News, citing sources, said it has learned federal investigators believe McWhorter may have gotten the money for the bribe from Carlos Powell, who was charged in January with running a major drug ring.
Joseph Brien, a lawyer for McWhorter business partner George Kastanes said the money came from an unidentified drug dealer. McWhorter borrowed pension money in 2008 for a company that bought foreclosed property in Detroit. Some of the property was later transferred to Powell, the News said. Kilpatrick and his father are awaiting trial on federal corruption charges. How corruption deepened Detroit's crisis. DETROIT -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was a spender, a schemer and a liar.
And taxpayers paid for it, by the millions. Over seven years, Kilpatrick's public corruption schemes, lavish lifestyle and ethical missteps cost taxpayers at least $20 million, a tab the financially strapped city was in no position to pick up but did anyway — usually without knowing. On Thursday, Kilpatrick will be sentenced for 24 corruption convictions. As he heads to federal prison for what could be decades, one important question lingers: How much did his extortion, kickback and bribery rackets contribute to the city's financial crisis and its filing in July for the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nation's history?
“Bankrupt: How Cronyism and Corruption Brought Down Detroit” By Todd ZywickiFebruary 10, 2014 A couple of weeks ago I attended the premiere of the new movie “Bankrupt: How Cronyism and Corruption Brought Down Detroit.”
It is a terrific movie and traces the dual collapse of the American automotive industry and the city of Detroit. The high cost of corruption: How Kwame Kilpatrick's crimes deepened Detroit's crisis. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was a spender, a schemer and a liar.
And taxpayers paid for it, by the millions. Over seven years, Kilpatrick’s public corruption schemes, lavish lifestyle and ethical missteps cost taxpayers at least $20 million, a tab the financially strapped city was in no position to pick up but did anyway — usually without knowing. ■ Full coverage:Kwame Kilpatrick public corruption scandal ■ Interactive timeline:Kilpatrick public corruption scandal, 2001-2013 On Thursday, Kilpatrick will be sentenced for 24 corruption convictions.
“Kilpatrick is not the main culprit of the city’s historic bankruptcy, which is the result of larger social and economic forces at work for decades,” federal prosecutors said in court documents. . ■ How Detroit went broke:The answers may surprise you - and don't blame Coleman Young. Detroit Mayor Is Charged in Scandal. Photo DETROIT — Mayor was charged on Monday with misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and perjury, felonies that could end his political career and send him to prison for a lengthy term if he is convicted.
Among the eight felony counts against him, Mr. Kilpatrick is accused of authorizing the city of Detroit to settle an $8.4 million lawsuit with several former police officers “with the corrupt motive” of preventing the release of text messages which would have revealed that he had lied under oath in the case, the charging documents say. Announcing the charges, Kym L. Worthy, the Wayne County prosecutor, declared it a “very sad day” for the city and for all of Michigan, but said that central tenets of life — those that even 6-year-old children understand well — had been breached. Mr. In a prepared statement he read at a news conference, Mr.
Daniel Webb, Mr. The charges stem from a scandal that has roiled Mr. Ms. The messages from Ms. Thousands go without water as Detroit cuts service for nonpayment. It has been six weeks since the city turned off Nicole Hill's water.
Dirty dishes are piled in the sink of her crowded kitchen, where the yellow-and-green linoleum floor is soiled and sticky. A small garbage can is filled with water from a neighbor, while a bigger one sits outside in the yard, where she hopes it will collect some rain. She's developed an intricate recycling system of washing the dishes, cleaning the floor and flushing the toilet with the same water.
"It's frightening, because you think this is something that only happens somewhere like Africa," said Hill, a single mother who is studying homeland security at a local college. "But now I know what they're going through — when I get somewhere there's a water faucet, I drink until my stomach hurts. " Hill is one of thousands of residents in Detroit who have had their water and sewer services turned off as part of a crackdown on customers who are behind on their bills.
Alana.semuels@latimes.com Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times. You couldn't say no to Bobby Ferguson, city contractor testifies in Detroit corruption trial.