Jurors heard about former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s Cadillac cravings and threats allegedly made by his father to kill a $1.2 billion sludge deal and enrich a relative. The revelations emerged during FBI informant James Rosendall’s third day on the witness stand. Jurors also heard several secretly recorded phone calls between Bernard Kilpatrick and his … Continue Reading →
Jurors saw FBI surveillance video Friday of Bernard Kilpatrick receiving $2,500 cash from a businessman involved in a bribery-tainted sludge contract. Kilpatrick’s lawyer, meanwhile, tried to justify the payment, and others, as legitimate compensation for helping the businessman, former Synagro executive James R. Rosendall Jr., navigate City Hall bureaucracy. FBI videos were one aspect of … Continue Reading →
Bernard Kilpatrick was plied with cash and promises of much more as he helped waste firm Synagro get a $1.1 billion contract, according to a Synagro executive who took jurors Thursday through audio and video tapes. James Rosendall also testified he flew Kwame Kilpatrick and top aides to Las Vegas in the years before Synagro … Continue Reading →
Prosecutors accused Bobby Ferguson of doctoring records, slurring a rival black contractor and doing shoddy work on some of Detroit’s most important construction projects, including the Book Cadillac hotel. Ferguson also threatened rivals over his close ties to ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and prevented black contractor Odell Jones from securing city deals after one dispute. Text … Continue Reading →
A defense lawyer tried to portray contractor Bobby Ferguson’s relationship with Kwame Kilpatrick as normal, considering powerful white contractors also had direct access to the Detroit mayor. The focus on Ferguson’s relationship with Kilpatrick came as court watchers anticipated testimony from Synagro scandal figure James R. Rosendall Jr. Rosendall is a West Michigan businessman whose … Continue Reading →
Former Kwame Kilpatrick aide and friend Derrick Miller capped a fifth day of testimony by complaining about the effects City Hall corruption has had on his marriage and personal life. The government’s star witness revealed he is in the midst of a divorce while facing up to 10 years in prison for his role in … Continue Reading →
Star witness Derrick Miller is a greedy liar who sold out his high-school pal and former boss Kwame Kilpatrick in hopes of going home to his wife and kid, not federal prison, according to testimony Friday. Miller faced his roughest day on the witness stand as Kilpatrick’s defense lawyer attacked his credibility and motivation behind … Continue Reading →
Derrick Miller flashed his first signs of emotion Thursday while being questioned by Kwame Kilpatrick’s lawyer and describing a bathroom payoff to the former Detroit mayor. The government’s star witness refused to concede minor points, angrily spit out answers to one question, quarreled with the attorney over historic events and quibbled over the meaning of … Continue Reading →
Star witness Derrick Miller told jurors about free private jet flights bankrolled by city contractors, Kwame Kilpatrick’s attempts to steer work to pal Bobby Ferguson and the death of his friendship with the former Detroit mayor. Outside court, meanwhile, Kilpatrick faced fresh legal woes after failing to disclose a $2,000 gift from a Chicago pastor. … Continue Reading →
The government’s star witness injected fresh drama into the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption trial Monday, describing cash payoffs to the former Detroit mayor and steering work to defendant Bobby Ferguson. Derrick Miller, the longtime Kilpatrick pal and former aide, spent almost four hours on the witness stand describing the inner workings of what prosecutors labeled a … Continue Reading →