Former mayer of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted of a number of charges on Monday including, extortion and the filing of false tax returns and racketeering conspiracy. CNN reported that the case accused him of using his mayoral status to an illegal advantage.
Bobby Ferguson, a Contractor, was also found guilty of racketeering and extortion. Kilpartrick's father, Bernard Kilpatrick was found guilty on a single tax count and not guilty on two other charges, reported WDIV.
"Kwame Kilpatrick and Ferguson were sent to a federal detention facility by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds hours after both were convicted in their corruption trial, CNN affiliates WDIV and WXYZ reported," reported CNN.
Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan said to CNN, "While he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, he watched the quality of life erode for the people of Detroit. The mayor was not focused on running the city. He was focused on using the mayor's office as a money-making machine."
Kilpatrick was the mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008m when he resigned.
Overall Kilpatrick was charged with 24 charges and carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail. The Associated Press reported that the trial took five months long and portrayed as an "unscrupulous politician who took bribes, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008."
Jurors convicted Kilpatrick of 24 charges including a racketeering conspiracy charge that carries a
Prosecutors said that he ran a "private profit machine" out of the city hall in Detroit, reported the AP. Evidence was shown how he received a share of profit after promising that Bobby Ferguson's excavation company was awarded work from the water department which was worth millions of dollars.
The AP reported that business owners said they were forced to hire Ferguson or risk losing city contracts.
"Internal Revenue Service agents said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his mayoral salary," reported the AP.
Kilpatrick now lives near Dallas, Texas and declined to testify. He was elected in 2001 at the age of 31. He resigned in 2008 and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in a scandal at the time that involved sexually explicit text messages and an extramarital affair with his chief of staff. He spent 14 months in jail after violating probation on the case.
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