Just what was that tape sticking to ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's ears?

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Kwame Kilpatrick showed up at federal court today looking much thinner than his days at the Manoogian Mansion.

And perceptive reporters noticed something different behind the ex-mayor's ears.

7 Action News Reporter Michael Rosenfield asked the mayor's attorney, and got the surprising answer.

"He is consulting with an Eastern Sikh medical person, not a doctor, who has advised him about losing weight," said Kilpatrick attorney Jim Thomas. "And he has those tapes behind his ears because those are pressure points, and he can massage that and it does affect your appetite."

Thomas said the mayor is shedding pounds thanks to the tape.

"And it's working," said Thomas. "He lost 16 pounds last week."

Thomas says the mayor is not being paid to wear the tape.

The mayor's ears were not the only thing getting attention today.

Someone tried to hand deliver a subpoena from a bank to defendant Bobby Ferguson outside the courthouse. The bank is apparently trying to retrieve some of Ferguson's assets, including three tractors. Ferguson refused to take the paperwork.

Meantime inside court, reporters chuckled when Judge Nancy Edmunds told prospective jurors she is known to make coffee cake for jurors.