(WXYZ) - New claims tonight that Detroit’s disgraced ex-mayor is getting more trouble than he deserves from the county prosecutor now in the midst of an inquiry into Kwame Kilpatrick’s finances. The claim surfaced when one of Kilpatrick’s lawyers sat down with Chief Investigative Reporter Steve Wilson.
Michael Schwartz/Attorney for Kilpatrick: And the question is, if he’s doing all these things and living the way he’s supposed to live, according to the probation rules, which is what he’s doing, then why are we here? That’s the real question.
The convicted ex-mayor is back in another court fight set to resume November 17 because prosecutors believe he just hasn’t been honest about his money and his ability to pay his restitution.
Athina Siringas/Prosecutor: He had assets of over $240,000 that he failed to disclose to this court in violation of all orders of the court.
But Schwartz says the prosecutors’ spreadsheet is wrong, based on a review by a certified public accountant he hired to review everything.
Schwartz: He went through everything the prosecutor had and showed that, in fact, the prosecutor overstated what he had in excess of $400,000.
Well, we saw some inconsistencies, too, but even so?
Kwame Kilpatrick/Former Detroit Mayor: Just so I’m clear, are we putting up my wife’s bank accounts as well? I guess we are. Wow!
Wow is right. From around the time Kilpatrick resigned and went to jail until about three weeks ago, more than $1.1 million have flowed into five bank accounts held by the ex-mayor and/or his wife Carlita.
Siringas: March 16. Do you see as to your joint account, Carlita and Kwame Kilpatrick, again, $43,660.57?
Kilpatrick: Yes.
In March alone, the deposits totaled $176,284. That’s 12½ times his Convisint take-home pay that month, and what has the prosecutor so steamed? It was just a week later in March that his attorney filed a motion claiming that, after expenses, Kilpatrick had only $6 left at the end of each month. Obviously, he pleaded, “Mr. Kilpatrick does not have the financial ability” to pay $6,000 a month in restitution, an amount that has since dropped to $3,000 after Kilpatrick’s monthly advances were cut.
Kilpatrick: As I said in the beginning, I borrowed, I did everything because I cannot pay the restitution with the income that I have for what you’re asking me to pay every month.
Wilson: The issue is, does this man have access to money he could be paying to us?
Schwartz: No, that’s not the issue.
Wilson: Instead of driving a Cadillac instead of a Ford, instead of living in a million-dollar house instead of a $200,000 house?
Schwartz: Listen, the issue is, is he being treated fairly under the equal protection law?
No, say prosecutors, the issue is when he claimed his expenses took all but $6 a month, he claimed to be paying $2,700 a month to lease a home, a fine mansion in a gated community in Texas. But in court the other day, what did he say to the judge?
Judge David Groner/Wayne County Circuit Court: Do you know how much the rent is?
Kilpatrick: No.
Groner: Do you have a lease agreement, do you know?
Kilpatrick: Um, I don’t have a lease agreement, your honor.
He also listed a $900-a-month auto lease, but in the courtroom, he said one lease was prepaid. And as for the other?
Schwartz: That Cadillac has been leased. He didn’t even lease it. Someone had to give him the money so that it could be leased. Fine, he’s living nicely; is that what this is about? We want to say, “Ok, we don’t want you to live nicely, now you have to be punished more than you were punished before?”
He’s already paying a higher percentage of his paycheck than any other criminal defendant’s restitution deal, says Schwartz, who may well be right, and yet prosecutor Kym Worthy still singles him out for unfair treatment for two reasons, the defense lawyer claims.
Schwartz: I think she’s just acting on her own personal animus towards him as a human being and, number two, I think she’s got political ambitions and I think she thinks if she plays the Kwame Kilpatrick card, somehow or another that can elevate her to a higher office, maybe Attorney General or along those lines.
Worthy has no comment. Her spokeswoman says they’ll try the case in the courtroom where sources tell us more surprising revelations are yet to come.
Prof. Peter Henning/Wayne State University Law School: He has been singled out but he’s a very high-profile defendant and certainly one who is worthy of the focus.
The independent conclusion about what’s going on here from Wayne State Law Professor Henning:
Henning: Is it fair when a celebrity gets charged with a DUI or it makes front-page news that someone beats his wife or his girlfriend? This happens all the time and it gets no attention. Is that fair? Well, of course as I always tell my kids, life isn’t necessarily fair and you deal with the consequences of your own actions.
And, says the professor, what’s going on now may well be a sideshow but it’s also a chance for people to question Kilpatrick under oath about a small part of a much larger picture. Remember, he avoided all that when he pled guilty and avoided a trial.
If you have a tip for the Action News Investigative Team, contact us at wilson@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
