Detroit ? Kwame Kilpatrick said he is $1.8 million in debt and has an overdrawn bank account, as questions continue about the former mayor's ability to pay restitution to the city stemming from the text-message scandal.
The debt was revealed in prison records and emails obtained by The Detroit News through the Freedom of Information Act.
Kilpatrick's parole agent asked questions about the ex-mayor's finances after he made a late November restitution payment earlier this month. It was the latest attempt to solve a mystery that has eluded federal investigators and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, all of whom have tried to figure out how Kilpatrick can afford rent on a 5,000-square-foot house while making $500 monthly restitution payments to Detroit.
"The last few years, he has been a man of contradictions and this is another one," said former federal prosecutor and Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning. "He is living a lifestyle beyond the means of many in our area, but apparently not paying for it."
The state questioned his finances Dec. 11 after Kilpatrick violated terms of his parole by making the late $500 restitution payment.
Kilpatrick told his parole agent he was paid $2,500 last month for a speaking engagement but otherwise is unemployed.
"His parole officer feels, at this time, he's making enough on speaking engagements to cover his expenses," Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said.
Kilpatrick did not respond to an email message seeking comment Monday.
State records show Kilpatrick said he has no vehicle loans or leases and no mortgage. He said his wife leases the family's rental home in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Going beyond restitution
Kilpatrick's debts go beyond the approximately $1 million restitution the former mayor agreed to pay following the text-message scandal. He still owes $855,062.
Kilpatrick owes $650,000 in attorney fees and $240,000 in loans from Compuware co-founder Peter Karmanos Jr. and businessmen Roger Penske, Dan Gilbert and James Nicholson. Kilpatrick also owes $53,577 in credit card and student loan debt, according to reports filed with his parole agent.
Based on those records, Kilpatrick, 42, is not paying lawyers who worked on his various criminal and civil cases before being indicted on racketeering charges in December 2010. The lawyers are not identified in state parole records obtained by The News.
Kilpatrick has a taxpayer-funded legal team in his ongoing racketeering case in federal court.
He also does not appear to be repaying Karmanos and the other businessmen.
The only debts that have declined since September were the restitution and a student loan.
On Dec. 11, after Kilpatrick made a late November restitution payment, parole agent Charles Wright asked the former mayor to explain how he is paying his bills.
"Can you provide me with a written explanation of how your bills have been paid?" Wright wrote.
The agent also asked for a full accounting of Kilpatrick's monthly expenses and an accounting of sales and proceeds from the ex-mayor's autobiography.
"I have not received ANY proceeds from any book sales," Kilpatrick wrote to his parole agent.
A hearing on the proceeds of the autobiography has been postponed until March 12 in Wayne County Circuit Court.
On Dec. 12, one day after answering his parole agent's questions, Kilpatrick made another $500 restitution payment.
Parole complaints
Kilpatrick has never explained why he made the late November payment.
But he complained about punishment imposed by his parole agent, who barred Kilpatrick from flying back to Texas earlier this month to attend his son's 11th birthday party.
"I sincerely pray that in the future, if significant issues arise that create an inability to pay restitution on time, I will be allowed to come to you (before hand) and speak with you, as would every other parolee in the United States of America," Kilpatrick wrote in a Dec. 7 email to his parole agent. "In hopes that continuing hurt, distress, sorrow and even damage is not put upon my family."
On Nov. 30, Kilpatrick said his bank account was overdrawn by $231. In October, the account held $4.03.
The former mayor said he has no investment accounts in his name or any joint accounts with his wife, Carlita.
He has a retirement account, however.
When Kilpatrick turns 55, he will receive $1,400 each month plus full health benefits stemming from his stint in the state Legislature that preceded his election as mayor in late 2001.
rsnell@detnews.com
(313) 222-2028
Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121218/METRO/212180326/1409/rss36
karl rove Election 2012 Results polling place washington post comedy central philadelphia eagles obamacare
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.