DETROIT — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick repeatedly stuffed his bank account and paid off credit cards with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, the illegal fruit of a crooked politician who took bribes and left taxpayers “holding the short end of the stick,” a prosecutor told jurors Friday at the start of a corruption trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow gave jurors a 40-minute preview of what they’ll see and hear in the months ahead in a case that could send Kilpatrick to prison for more than 10 years.
He described Kilpatrick as a young, enthusiastic state lawmaker of modest means who was elected mayor in 2001 and then set off on a sweeping scheme to enrich himself through extortion and bribes. Also on trial are his father, Bernard, and the former mayor’s best friend, Bobby Ferguson.
Chutkow said Kilpatrick deposited more than $200,000 in cash in his bank account and paid his credit card bills with another $280,000 in cash. The prosecutor said more than $60,000 in cash was spent on custom-made suits.
“It didn’t come from his payroll check. It did not come from a rich relative, and it didn’t come from savvy investments,” Chutkow told the jury.
“This was not politics as usual,” the prosecutor added during another part of his opening. “This was extortion, bribery, fraud. … They broke their oath to serve this city. It was the citizens of the city of Detroit who were left holding the short end of the stick.”
Kilpatrick, who quit office in 2008 in an unrelated scandal and served 14 months in prison for a probation violation, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, bribery, fraud, false tax returns and tax evasion.
Defense attorney James Thomas emphasized Kilpatrick’s innocence in his opening statement but didn’t specifically address the large sums of money outlined by the government. He called the government’s case a “scam.”
“The government has charged a racketeering conspiracy and everything but the kitchen sink. … You’re going to learn about politics,” Thomas said. “Politics is like making sausage. You know it’s not pretty; it’s messy. But once it’s cooked, it tastes pretty good.”
