Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
23 September 2012. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and two other co-defendants face a combined 46 counts including racketeering, extortion, bribery and income tax evasion in a trial that is expected to take four months. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow told jurors that Kilpatrick and co-defendant Bobby Ferguson exchanged text messages such as, “‘Let’s get us some money,’ ‘No deal without me,’ ‘It’s my time to get paid’.” Kilpatrick, now 42, was a rising political star in the Democratic Party when he was elected the youngest mayor in Detroit history in 2001. He resigned as part of a plea deal in a separate perjury case in 2008. Kilpatrick pocketed kickbacks, bought $60,000 worth of custom-made suits, and paid off credit cards with $280,000 in cash, Chutkow said. Ferguson, a construction company owner and long-time Kilpatrick friend, helped the ex-mayor rig $60 million in city contracts, Chutkow charged. Two other co-defendants that prosecutors say were involved in some of the schemes are Kilpatrick’s father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and former head of the city’s water department, Victor Mercado.Testimony was scheduled to begin on Monday.
