Kwame Kilpatrick‘s defense lawyer tried to discredit a key government witness Wednesday who is expected to tell jurors she paid cash kickbacks to the former mayor.
Kilpatrick attorney James C. Thomas questioned an IRS agent about fundraiser Emma Bell’s gambling activity at Greektown Casino. From 2005 through 2008, Bell lost more than $193,000.
Thomas also referred to Bell as an alcoholic. She was Kilpatrick’s longtime fundraiser and was paid a percentage of any money she raised for the ex-mayor’s campaigns, inaugural committee and purported charity.
Bell agreed to testify against the ex-mayor, who allegedly demanded more than $286,500 in kickbacks from Bell.
Thomas suggested she didn’t pay Kilpatrick kickbacks. Instead, she blew the cash at the casino. Prosecutors argued Bell made enough money to cover her gambling debts and pay the kickbacks.
Bell is expected to testify as early as 9 a.m. Thursday. Testimony ended early Wednesday after a juror reportedly felt ill.
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Prosecutor Michael Bullotta
Prosecutors tried to show Kwame Kilpatrick’s fundraiser had enough money to cover more than $193,000 in gambling losses at Greektown Casino after kicking back cash to the former mayor.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta reviewed fundraiser Emma Bell gambling activity between 2005 and 2008. He was trying to blunt defense assertions that Bell spent campaign contributions at the casino instead of paying kickbacks to Kilpatrick.
In 2006, Bell lost more than $39,000 playing slots at Greektown, according to testimony.
“Did she make enough money to cover that loss even if she split half of the money with Kwame Kilpatrick?” Bullotta asked IRS Special Agent Ron Sauer.
“Yes,” Sauer testified.
Kwame Kilpatrick’s fundraiser stashed cashier’s checks purchased with money contributed by campaign donors under her mattress, according to testimony Wednesday.
From 2003 to 2008, Bell was paid more than $904,000 to raise money for Kilpatrick’s purported charity, mayoral campaigns and inaugural committee.
Bell lied to agents initially about the kickbacks, according to earlier testimony.
She ultimately told investigators she gave Kilpatrick 50 percent of any donation over $25,000 as well as half of donations of $5,000 or more.
“She was trying to protect Kwame Kilpatrick,” Sauer testified. “She didn’t want him to look petty. She considered him like a son.”
Sauer was able to corroborate Bell’s story by interviewing the fundraiser’s driver, Angela Burris.
Burris told agents she would drive Bell to the bank. From there, she would drive her to the City-County Building in Detroit, which houses city government.
“Were there text messages indicating Bell would be meeting with the mayor?” Bullotta asked Sauer.
“Yes,” the agent testified.
Marc Andre Cunningham
A former Kilpatrick aide, Marc Andre Cunningham, also told investigators Bell met privately with Kilpatrick.
“Did Andre Cunningham say Bell would go into the barber chair room alone with the mayor?” Bullotta asked the agent.
“Yes,” Sauer said.
It is unclear if Bullotta was referring to the barber shop in the basement of the City-County Building.
Cunningham is one of 11 people who have struck plea deals with the government during the City Hall corruption probe and agreed to testify against Kilpatrick.
An aide to Kilpatrick who headed the Detroit Film Office, Cunningham pleaded guilty in November 2010 to conspiracy to commit bribery and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He faces up to 37 months in prison and is awaiting sentencing.
Defense lawyer James C. Thomas
Kwame Kilpatrick’s lawyer exposed the hard-gambling lifestyle of a key government witness who will testify she paid cash kickbacks to the former mayor.
Defense lawyer James C. Thomas referred to Kilpatrick fundraiser Emma Bell as an alcoholic and gambling addict.
From 2005 through 2008, Bell lost more than $193,000 gambling at Greektown Casino, according to testimony Wednesday.
In 2006, she bet more than $569,000.
“How’d she do?” Thomas asked.
“She lost,” IRS Special Agent Ron Sauer said.
“How much,” Thomas said.
“$39,278,” the agent testified.
Former Kilpatrick fundraiser Emma Bell
On the same day in 2008 that Bell collected a $25,000 payment from a Kilpatrick-related entity, she gambled more than $9,000 at Greektown, according to testimony.
Thomas asked if the money she allegedly gave to Kilpatrick as a kickback instead was spent playing slots at the casino.
“She told us she kicked back a portion of the money to Kwame Kilpatrick,” the agent said.
“But there is no corroboration,” the lawyer said.
“There is,” Sauer said. “The records support her testimony.”
“Are there any phone records that she tried to set up an appointment with Mr. Kilpatrick?” Thomas asked.
“There were calls to the mayor’s office,” the agent said.
“Did anyone see her hand money to the mayor?” Thomas asked. “That’s a yes or no.”
“No,” Sauer testified.
Kwame Kilpatrick with defense lawyer James C. Thomas.
Fundraiser Emma Bell is expected to be the first of at least 11 felons who will testify against Kwame Kilpatrick.
She likely faces a brutal cross examination — perhaps as early as today — over her tax woes, personal life and gambling.
Bell agreed to testify against the ex-mayor, who allegedly demanded more than $286,500 in kickbacks from Bell.
She pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges in October and is awaiting sentencing.
Under a plea deal, Bell faces 18-24 months in prison, which could be cut in half if she provides substantial assistance. She is expected to testify about paying kickbacks to Kilpatrick from money contributed by campaign donors.
During opening statements, Kilpatrick lawyer James C. Thomas hinted at the expected defense grilling.
Thomas called her a gambling addict who lost $300,000 at casinos before agreeing to testify against the mayor.
Bell “was grabbing money with both hands just like Derrick Miller,” Thomas said, referring to the mayor’s former aide, who also is a key government witness.
Thomas is questioning an IRS agent about his investigation and attempts to identify cash payments from Bell to Kilpatrick.
“You made an attempt…to correlate money she said she was giving to Mr. Kilpatrick with his bank records and him depositing cash to pay for his credit cards, did you not?” Thomas asked the agent. “You were not able to make that correlation, is that correct?”
“I believe there was some correlation,” the IRS agent countered.
Thomas also reviewed a spreadsheet showing payments Bell made for her Lafayette Towers apartment. Among the recipients of cash from Bell: political consultant Adolph Mongo, according to the spreadsheet.
Political consultant Adolph Mongo.
Mongo worked for Kilpatrick but had harsh words for him two years ago, according to a Detroit News story:
“He left this city in shambles,” Mongo said of Kilpatrick. “He had the most potential of anybody I ever worked for, and he blew it. What made this town great — black political power — has been diluted, sliced up and silenced. Detroit has become the minor leagues.”
Kwame Kilpatrick heads for court with his lawyers
Fundraiser Emma Bell cashed a $25,000 check from the mayor’s campaign in May 2008 and gave Kwame Kilpatrick as much as a $15,000 kickback, according to testimony.
IRS Special Agent Ron Sauer testified about the kickback, the first of several prosecutors allege Kilpatrick received from Bell.
Kilpatrick lawyer James C. Thomas is cross examining Sauer about Bell and referencing her criminal record. Bell pleaded guilty to two counts of tax evasion on Oct. 3, 2011, and has agreed to testify against Kilpatrick.
Thomas also is attacking her credibility.
“She lied,” Thomas told the agent.
“She did,” Sauer answered.
Bell initially told agents she didn’t split campaign donations she collected for amounts less than $25,000.
Bell later changed her story.
She gave Kilpatrick 50 percent of any donation over $25,000 as well as half of donations of $5,000 or more, Sauer testified.
“Her justification was she didn’t’ want to make Mr. Kilpatrick look petty by accepting cash kickbacks at a lower level,” Sauer testified.
Kwame Kilpatrick heading to federal court.
The IRS subpoenaed bank records belonging to Kwame Kilpatrick”s fundraiser, Emma Bell, to trace payments to the longtime Detroit fundraiser from the mayor.
IRS Special Agent Ron Sauer built a spreadsheet tracking each payment from the mayor’s political campaign, Civic Fund and inaugural committee from 2003 to 2008 .
For instance, on Jan. 17, 2006, Bell received $50,000 from Kilpatrick’s inaugural committee. She withdrew $10,000 cash and bought $40,000 worth of cashier’s checks, Sauer testified Wednesday.
In all, Bell received more than $900,000 in payments from Kilpatrick-related entities, none of which she reported as income to the IRS, prosecutors said.
Bell is expected to testify later today and describe being forced to kickback part of those payments back to Kilpatrick.
Two weeks in and still no sight of Kwame Kilpatrick’s family in the courtroom gallery.
But we have seen baby Jesus.
An unidentified woman sat in the courtroom gallery Tuesday working on a baby Jesus needlepoint while witnesses testified during the City Hall corruption probe.
Reporters, who can barely bring No. 2 pencils into court, sat in awe as the woman clutched knitting needles inside U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds’s courtroom.
Former Kilpatrick fundraiser Emma Bell
Kwame Kilpatrick’s fundraiser is expected to take the witness stand Wednesday and testify about how the former mayor forced her to kickback cash contributed by campaign donors.
Bell is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year.
A longtime fundraiser for Kilpatrick, Bell was charged in federal court with income tax evasion. Under a plea deal, Bell pleaded guilty to two counts of tax evasion on Oct. 3, 2011, and has agreed to testify against Kilpatrick.
Under a plea deal, Bell has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and could spend 18-24 months in prison. If she provides substantial assistance, the government will ask a judge to cut the prison sentence in half to 9-12 months.
“It’s been hell,” Bell told reporters after a plea hearing last year. “You do stupid things, and I’m sorry. I just hope this all goes away and nobody else gets caught up. It was just stupid.”
Bell, who was earlier identified as paying kickbacks to Kilpatrick in 2003, failed to pay more than $206,000 in income taxes, according to federal prosecutors. That’s after allegedly receiving at least $534,000 worth of checks from Kilpatrick’s mayoral campaign, inauguration committee and the nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund from 2006 to 2007, according to court records.
She has agreed to pay $334,236 in taxes and $80,000 in fines.
In all, Bell received more than $900,000 in payments from Kilpatrick-related entities, none of which she reported as income to the IRS, prosecutors said.
Kilpatrick told Bell to split her commissions with him, paying the former mayor cash whenever she received a check totaling $5,000 or more, prosecutors allege.
If Kilpatrick’s cut was more than $10,000, prosecutors said Bell would make multiple deliveries of cash to the former mayor. That’s so she could avoid a bank regulation requiring IRS notification of all withdrawals of more than $10,000.
At one point during her plea hearing last year, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds asked Bell why she was guilty.
“Um, your honor, I received money and did not file taxes on it,” Bell said. “It was a stupid thing on my part, and I apologize to the court, but I’m guilty.”
Bell has been identified as the unnamed female fundraiser referenced in the corruption indictment issued against Kilpatrick on Dec. 15, 2010, which accused the ex-mayor of taking more than $286,000 in kickbacks from his fundraising director. Campaign finance records show cash changing hands between Kilpatrick and Bell on key dates listed in the indictment.
Bell also reportedly failed to report $63,642 in gambling winnings, according to federal prosecutors.
The News first reported about Bell’s tax problems. At the time, she owed more than $153,000 in delinquent state and federal taxes, according to public records.
Bell attempted to evade income taxes between 2006 and 2008, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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