DETROIT -- Local 4 has learned about a new secret that a prominent Detroit businessman, who lent former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick money before leaving town, did not want anyone to know about.

Dan Gilbert, founder of Rock Financial and Quicken Loans and owner of the NBA Franchise, the Cleveland Cavaliers, was arrested nearly three decades ago while in college for running a bookie operation.

The prominent businessman and three other Detroit millionaires kept it a secret from the public when they lent Kilpatrick $240,000 the day after he was released from jail after serving time in connection with the city hall scandal.

Gilbert, Roger Penske, Jim Nicholson, and Pete Karmanos never told anyone about the loan until Kilpatrick told a crowded courtroom at a restitution hearing last month.

Another secret was revealed about Gilbert this month.

Last week, right after Gilbert won the right by Ohio voters to open two casinos in the state, TV ads that called Gilbert a busted bookie, began to air.

Former Michigan State Police Officer John Fiedler told Local 4 that he was undercover the night Gilbert, then just a college student at Michigan State University, was caught in the act and arrested.

"We targeted Mr. Gilbert," said Fiedler. "We had a specific compliant against him, that threats were being made because a young man had not made good on his bets."

Fiedler said that during an undercover sting, Gilbert was arrested for bookmaking.

Gilbert paid a fine and did community service and then the incident was expunged from his permanent record.

Download: Dan Gilbert's Record Expunged

Gilbert refused to do an on-camera interview with Local 4, but he told an Ohio newspaper that Fiedler was lying.

Gilbert's spokesman, Matt Cullen, did however send a written statement on the bookmaking charge and the Kilpatrick loan on Gilbert's behalf.

Statements:
Nearly three decades ago, a charge was filed against a teenaged Dan Gilbert and other Michigan State University students.

The charges were subsequently fully dismissed by a judge without any adjudication of guilt and the court files were ordered sealed and later expunged (a copy of the order of dismissal is attached to this letter).

The attorney general of the state of Michigan has recently confirmed publicly that Mr. Gilbert has no criminal convictions, nor any criminal record whatsoever in the state of Michigan.

The fully dismissed 28 year old charges have no bearing or relevance to any of Mr. Gilbert’s current activities.

Recently, a long retired law enforcement officer, who was apparently recruited by the opposing side of a political referendum campaign that Mr. Gilbert was supporting in Ohio, has been violating Michigan state law and Mr. Gilbert’s civil rights by holding public news conferences as well as participating in media interviews where he stated his false and distorted recollection of events relating to information in court ordered, non-public sealed and/or expunged records from the dismissed case nearly three decades ago.

There is nothing more to comment on, nor respond to regarding this long ago incident that was dismissed and adjudicated without guilt.

It is perplexing as to the newsworthiness of 28 year old , fully dismissed charges against a teenaged Dan Gilbert when this adjudicated incident has never been dignified as an issue by Michigan State University, where Dan Gilbert subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Wayne State University Law School, where Dan Gilbert was subsequently accepted to and graduated from with a law degree, the State Bar of Michigan where Mr. Gilbert has been an upstanding member for over 22 years, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) which approved Mr. Gilbert as a board member of a publicly traded thrift, along with numerous state regulatory agencies which have approved Mr. Gilbert and his company to be a fully licensed mortgage lender, as well as approvals at FHA, HUD, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) among numerous other governmental and business entities where all applicants are required to pass strict and thorough background checks.

Mr. Gilbert has created thousands of jobs in Michigan and Ohio and has been recognized as one of Michigan’s most distinguished businessmen and philanthropists over a highly successful and effective 25 year career.

Statement On Kilpatrick :
Together, with several other business leaders, I made a personal loan to former Mayor Kilpatrick. We were concerned about the City’s inability to move forward due to the situation and circumstances that had surrounded former Mayor Kilpatrick and his administration. In our view it was important for the City, and the entire region, that the mayor leave office as soon as was practical. We believed that making a personal loan to the mayor would accelerate his leaving office. The loan still remains outstanding.