The federal investigation of Detroit City Hall corruption that led to the conviction of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and many others began in 2007. Ultimately Kilpatrick was sentenced on Oct. 10, 2013, to 28 years in prison for turning City Hall into a money-making criminal enterprise.
TIMELINE:
June 8, 1970 Kwame Malik Kilpatrick is born in Detroit, Michigan
1992 Kilpatrick graduates from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science
1996 Kilpatrick was elected in 1996 to the Michigan House of Representatives after his mother vacated the seat to campaign for a position in the United States Congress
1999 Kilpatrick receives his law degree
2001 Kilpatrick became the youngest mayor of Detroit when elected at age 31
2001-2004 Kilpatrick is highly criticized for using city funds to lease family cars, using his city-issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars' worth of spa massages, extravagant dining, and expensive wines. It was also alleged in 2002 he held a wild stripper party at the Mayor’s mansion.
2003 A civil lawsuit was filed against Kilpatrick by his ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope and former Deputy Chief Police Gary Brown. The police officers claim they were fired because of an internal probe into the mayor's personal actions and that the firing was a violation of the whistleblower law.
2005 Time Magazine names Kilpatrick as one of the worst mayors in America, but he gets re-elected with a great deal of controversy, with nursing home workers claiming that Kilpatrick campaign workers came into the homes and "helped" elderly voters with Alzheimer's disease "fill-out" their ballots.
August 2007 The civil trial finally begins with Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, both denying they were involved in an extramarital affair
September 11, 2007 The civil trial ended after three hours of jury deliberation, in a verdict awarding the plaintiffs $6.5 million in damages. In an angry speech in front of City Hall made minutes after the verdict was read, Kilpatrick blamed the "wrong verdict" on white suburbanite jurors.
January 2008 A text message scandal hits Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Beatty, both in separate marriages at the time, did discuss city business; however, many of the series of messages describe not a professional relationship but an extramarital sexual relationship between the two, often in graphic detail. The text messages further describe their use of city funds to arrange romantic getaways, their fears of being caught by the mayor's police protection unit, and evidence the pair conspired to fire Detroit Police Deputy Chief Gary Brown
March 18, 2008 The Detroit City Council passed a non-binding resolution asking for Kilpatrick to resign as mayor.
March 24, 2008 Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced a 12-count criminal indictment against Kilpatrick and former Detroit Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, charging Kilpatrick with eight felonies and Beatty with seven. Charges for both included perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice. Worthy also suggested that others in the Kilpatrick administration could also be charged
August 8, 2008 Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox announced that two new felony counts had been filed against Kilpatrick for assaulting or interfering with a law officer. The new charges arose out of allegations that Kilpatrick on July 24, 2008, shoved a police officer who was attempting to serve a subpoena on an associate of the mayor. The second felony account arose out of allegations that a second officer was struck when the first officer was shoved into a woman police officer who was accompanying the first officer.
September 4, 2008 Kwame Kilpatrick pled guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice and plead no contest to assaulting a Wayne County Sheriff's Deputy. As part of the plea agreement, he agreed to serve four months in the Wayne County Jail, pay one million dollars of restitution to the city of Detroit, surrender his license to practice law, five years probation and not run for public office during his probation period. He also was required to resign as mayor of Detroit and surrender his state pension from his six years' service in the Michigan House of Representatives prior to being elected mayor. In an allocution given as part of his plea, Kilpatrick admitted that he lied under oath several times. His last day in office was September 18, 2008.
October 28, 2008 Kilpatrick is sentenced to four months in jail for the sex and text scandal
June 23, 2010 Kilpatrick was indicted on 19 federal counts including 10 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, five counts of filing a false tax return, and one count of tax evasion.
December 14, 2010 Kilpatrick was again indicted on new corruption charges, in what a federal prosecutor called a "pattern of extortion, bribery and fraud" by some of the city's most prominent officials. His father, Bernard Kilpatrick, was also indicted, as was contractor Bobby Ferguson, Kilpatrick's aide, Derrick Miller, and Detroit water department chief, Victor Mercado.The original 38-charge indictment listed allegations of 13 fraudulent schemes in awarding contracts in the city's Department of Water and Sewerage, with pocketed kickbacks of nearly $1,000,000
September 21, 2012 The trial begins
March 11, 2013 in spite of a vigorous defense that cost taxpayers more than a million dollars, Kilpatrick was found guilty by a jury on two dozen counts including those for racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion
Ocotber 10, 2013 Kilpatrick is sentenced to 28 years in prison There is no parole in the federal prison system. However, with time off for good behavior, his earliest possible release date will be August 1, 2037—when he will be 67 years old.
Who is Kwame Kilpatrick?
In a nutshell, Kilpatrick is the primary target of an intense Detroit City Hall corruption investigation that leads to the convictions of two dozen people - including several of his closest friends and former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers.
A little more about him -- Kilpatrick becomes the youngest mayor of Detroit when voters put him in office at the age of 31 in the year 2001. He put the city through a massive corruption scandal that prosecutors say helped push Detroit toward bankruptcy. Kilpatrick resigns in 2008 during his second term as mayor to plead guilty to lying in a civil case involving a sex scandal with a top aide. He ends up serving a four-month prison term on two obstruction of justice felonies. In March of 2013, a jury convicts the former mayor of most of the federal charges against him -- including racketeering conspiracy, extortion and the filing of false tax returns.
In October of 2010, Kilpatrick is sentenced to 28 years in prison after he is convicted in March. His punishment ranks among the harshest major state and local public corruption cases.
Who is Kwame’s mom?
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is a Democratic politician who was a U.S. Representative for Michigan’s 13th congressional from 1997 to 2011. In August 2010 she lost the Democratic primary election… the embattled seven-term congresswoman began losing ground with constituents in recent polls conducted after legal troubles concerning her son, former mayor Kilpatrick, increased.
What’s Kwame’s background?
Born in Detroit and raised on the west side, Kwame knows as a kid that he wants to be in politics. After all, politics is in his blood. His mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, was serving in the Michigan State House of Representatives, a position she held from 1979 to 1996, when she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. His father was working as an aide to the county's highest executive. As a state representative Kilpatrick split his time between the state capital in Lansing and his home on the west side of Detroit. By 1998 he helped develop the $675 million Clean Michigan Initiative. In 2001, proves himself to fellow representatives when the opportunity arose to run for state house minority leader in 2000. Though many thought he was too young, he won the position in January of 2001.
What’s Kwame accused of throughout his years in office?
There are accusations against Kilpatrick of fake jobs for family and friends, lavish parties, pay to play schemes, and secret affairs.
In March 2008, in the wake of an embarrassing sexting scandal, Kilpatrick and an aide are charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, among other things. In August 2008, he’s charged with assaulting a police officer who was attempting to serve a subpoena. In September 2008, he resigns and is sentenced to four months in jail. He serves 99 days before being released on probation; in 2010, he returns to jail after violating that probation. After being indicted on federal corruption charges that same year, Kilpatrick gets transferred to a federal prison; in 2011, he’s sent back to state prison. Kilpatrick is paroled in 2011. And then he gets sent back to federal prison. Now, he’s on his way back to federal prison.
So in a nutshell… in 2008, beleaguered mayor Kilpatrick pleads guilty to two felony counts and resigns his office. Two years later, he is indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion; in March 2013 he is found guilty of the wide-ranging racketeering conspiracy charges.