Kilpatrick trial Day 61 recap: IRS says owes close to $200,000 in unpaid taxes

DETROIT – The Internal Revenue Service claimed Friday that defendant Kwame Kilpatrick owes them close to $200,000 in unpaid taxes.

IRS agent Carl Selz used a summary chart to explain to jurors how he had adjusted Kilpatricks's incomes in the years 2003 through 2008 to include more than $530,000 worth of unreported cash deposits and transactions uncovered by the government.

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By subtracting the amounts of taxes that Kilpatrick actually paid from the tax amounts he should have paid, Selz found that the former Detroit mayor still owed the IRS $195,403.61.

Earlier in the day, Kilpatrick's lawyer James Thomas tried to chip away at the government's assertion that Kilpatrick had used the non-profit Kilpatrick Civic Fund to pay for more than $152,000 worth of personal expenses.

Thomas argued that certain charges were not personal expenses because they met with the educational and charitable purposes of the Civic Fund.

For example there was the $7,140 paid to Super Camp.

IRS agent Ron Sauer agreed with the defense lawyer that the Ivy League sponsored camp certainly provided for an educational experience for the sons of Kilpatrick and former Detroit Treasurer Jeff Beasley but countered that the Civic Fund should still not be paying for the "figurehead's children."

Thomas also asked the court to recall a meeting that Kilpatrick called for at Manoogian Mansion shortly before he went to Wayne county jail in October 2008. Former chief of Staff Christine Beatty and other members of the Civic Fund Board met to discuss the wrap up of the non-profit. Thomas pointed out that they had agreed that the former mayor's expenses to move out of the Mansion should be paid for by the non-profit and thus should not have been included in the calculations for personal expenses.

According to Thomas, the many hotel stays in Texas were not necessarily for personal reasons. Pointing to a March 31st 2008 stay at the Dallas Four Seasons for $1,150, Thomas produced a check to T.D. Jakes's non-denominational church for $1,000 on April 4th 2008. Thomas also reasoned that when Comerica Bank moved their headquarters out of Detroit to Dallas, Kilpatrick would have met with banking officials to negotiate the transfer.

Read: Kwame Kilpatrick going back to jail for parole violations.

With theatrical flourish, Thomas grabbed a blank piece of paper and began jotting down the costs for various stays at the Hilton Southlake Town Square in Texas before adding them up.

"I have very little trust in Mr. Thomas's math," said agent Sauer in reference to yesterday when the defense lawyer claimed that 200 times 50 came to $100,000. The IRS used his cell calculator to find that Thomas's numbers came to $13,027.73.

Thomas then produced a cashier's dated April 13th 2009 remitted by Carlita and Kwame Kilpatrick for that exact amount paid back to the Civic Fund.

On redirect, U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta asked Sauer when Kilpatrick was served a subpoena on the Civic Fund. The answer was August 13th 2008- several months before the supposed payback.

The IRS agent also said the $13,027.73 did not account for the rest of the $152,000 in personal expenditures.

Court resumes Monday at 9AM.