DETROIT – A just-filed indictment that's more than 100 pages alleges former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick took kickbacks while in office and was involved in extortion schemes.
The superceding federal document was filed Wednesday and focuses on four names: Kilpatrick, former city contractor Bobby Ferguson, Bernard Kilpatrick and former Detroit water department director Victor Mercado. The four are accused of running a criminal enterprise. Kilpatrick and his father are already facing a September 2012 trial on federal corruption charges.
Read the indictment: here.
One instance listed in the indictment accuses Kilpatrick of insisting his father's company be hired as a consultant to build a restaurant in Ford Field. When the developer refused, Kilpatrick allegedly pulled back city funding.
In another case, when a developer wanted to open a restaurant in Asian Village, Kilpatrick allegedly insisted the developer pay $10,000 to former aide Derrick Miller if he expected to get any loans from the city's retirement fund.
Miller is accused of transferring bribe money between the enterprise members, at one time handing over $10,000 to Kilpatrick in a restaurant bathroom. The document alleges Kilpatrick accepted $115,000 in cash kickbacks from the lease and sale of city properties.
The indictment also charges Ferguson with seven new charges of money laundering and witness tampering.
Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and resigned from office in 2008 after he lied at a civil trial to cover up an extramarital affair with his chief of staff, which was exposed through a series of graphic text messages. That lawsuit cost Detroit $8.4 million.
Kilpatrick was imprisoned in May 2010 for failing to disclose assets and surrender sufficient funds that could have reduced his $1 million restitution to Detroit. He was released Aug. 2, 2011, and has moved to Texas with his wife and three sons.