Thursday recap: Kwame Kilpatrick federal trial testimony

Christine Beatty's sister, April Edgar, says Kilpatrick instructed her to sing charity checks for lavish expenditures

DETROIT – The sister of Kwame Kilpatrick's former mistress testified Thursday that she signed countless charity checks for lavish expenditures on the instructions of the former mayor of Detroit.

April Edgar, sister of former Kilpatrick Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and one-time scheduler for Kilpatrick, testified that after Beatty's departure in early 2008 she took over as one of the authorized signers for the Kilpatrick Civic Fund.

The other authorized signers on the account were Kandia Milton, Chief of Staff after Beatty, and William Phillips, the lawyer for the Kilpatrick Civic Fund. All checks issued from the charity account required two authorized signatures.

The government presented Edgar with a dizzying array of checks she had signed from the Civic Fund account. Amongst them, two checks totaling $110,000 to Maiyen Consulting LLC, Beatty's company, in March of 2008 and 2 checks totaling $50,000 to Bernard Kilpatrick's Maestro Associates in 2008. Former Kilpatrick aide DeDan Milton was issued a $5,000 check in November 2008 for consulting services while Impact Strategies/Philanthropy LLC, the Judy Smith crisis management company, received 3 checks for almost $96,000 also in 2008.

And that was just the beginning.

A cashier's check for $69,636.88 was purchased with Civic Fund money for American Mailers Inc in July 2008 and two separate checks totaling $125,000 were issued to Inland Press.

There was an April 2008 check for $4,500 to Super Camp on behalf of Kilpatrick's sons and Chase Beasley, son of former Detroit Teasurer Jeff Beasley.


-- April Edgar outside court on Thursday.

Then there were the hotels.

In 2008 alone, Kilpatrick Civic Fund checks were issued to pay the following:
• $1,150 to the Four Seasons Resort & Spa Dallas in Irving, Texas.
• $964.65 to the Ballantyne Resort in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• $982 to Marriott Legacy Town Center in Plano, Texas.
• $8,489 (total from 3 separate checks on 2 dates) at the Hilton Southlake in Southlake, Texas.
• $550 to Irvine Marriott for $550 in Irvine, California.
• $1,228.64 to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Texas.
• $3,750 at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. This reservation was ultimately canceled and a credit for $1,875 was issued. Edgar couldn't recall if that amount was ever deposited back into the Civic Fund.
Edgar testified that Kwame and Carlita Kilpatrick would often make reservations under their aliases, Kevin and Carla Kitchen, in a bid to throw the media off their trail.
And finally, there were the moving costs: $15,042.69 to University Moving Company and $12,800 to Regality Management Services for temporary housing.

Jim Thomas, Kwame Kilpatrick's defense lawyer, referred to a September 2008 meeting at the Manoogian Mansion where board members discussed wrapping up the Civic Fund and how to distribute the last of the monies. Thomas pointed out that "transition costs" for moving out had been targeted for a portion of those funds in that meeting.

Other witnesses on the day included Matt Allen, former Kilpatrick press secretary, and Mary Fleming, a former board member of the Manoogian Mansion Restoration Society.

Court is in recess on Friday and Monday. Session will resume next at 9 a.m. Tuesday.