When he was elected in 2002, Kwame Kilpatrick was the youngest mayor in the history of Detroit. After numerous scandals and controversies, Mr. Kilpatrick eventually entered a guilty plea to two felonies charges.
During my two years representing Mr. Kilpatrick, I learned the value of dedication and hard work to obtaining justice. Even though he had a seasoned legal team before I represented him, I was able to successfully replace them as Mr. Kilpatrick’s lead attorney during some of the earliest days of my legal career. Mr.
Today, I use my experience from the Kwame Kilpatrick as evidence that hard work and tireless dedication results in the best possible outcome, no matter how difficult the situation for my clients.
The wiretap recorded Reynolds and friend Angelo Selva talking in July 2015. The duo discussed Rizzo and Schwartz providing free legal services in exchange for help with a Clinton Township garbage contract, according to the indictment.
Schwartz, meanwhile, served as Rizzo's business lawyer as the trash mogul built a sprawling empire across Metro Detroit.
The request from Schwartz follows a string of failed attempts to blunt the government's case.
There is a precedent for barring Kilpatrick's name during federal corruption cases in Detroit.
DETROIT—Former Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, 40, of Southlake, Texas, was indicted today by a federal grand jury with 10 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, five counts of filing a false tax return, and one count of tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced. Each fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and each tax count carries a maximum sentence of three or five years and a fine of $250,000.
U.S. Attorney McQuade was joined in the announcement by Maurice Aouate, Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the IRS, and Andrew G. Arena , Special Agent in Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI.
As to the mail and wire fraud charges, the indictment alleges that, beginning in 1999, Kwame Kilpatrick devised a scheme to use the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a tax-exempt social welfare organization registered with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to pay for personal expenses and to fund his mayoral campaigns in 2001 and 2005. The indictment also alleges that, despite public statements and letters maintaining that Civic Fund donations went to pay for voter education and to improve the lives of the citizens of Detroit and surrounding communities, Kilpatrick used Civic Fund monies to pay himself cash kickbacks, which he took from the paychecks of an individual employed by the Civic Fund, to provide money to friends and relatives and to pay for items such as countersurveillance and anti-bugging equipment, yoga and golf lessons, golf clubs, summer camp for his children, personal travel, moving expenses, car rentals and leases of cars, and a personal residence. The indictment further alleges that Kilpatrick used the Civic Fund to pay for campaign expenses, including polling, focus groups, public relations, and political consulting.