Kwame M. Kilpatrick, 40, now of Southlake, Texas, and the former mayor of the City of Detroit, was indicted Wednesday on 10 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, five counts of filing a false tax return, and one count of tax evasion. Beginning in 1999, Kilpatrick, a Democrat, is alleged to have devised a scheme to use the Kilpatrick Civic Fund, a tax-exempt social welfare organization to pay for personal expenses and to fund his mayoral campaigns in 2001 and 2005. Prosecutors allege Kilpatrick used at least $640,000 of these funds for his campaigns, as well as for personal travel, car leases, college tuition, anti-bugging equipment and yoga lessons. Some observers were surprised that the indictment did not allege Kilpatrick received kickbacks from contractors or misuse of office as the grand jury was believed to be investigating. We note that last month, Kilpatrick was sentenced to 14 to 60 months in state prison for violating probation in the criminal case involving sexually explicit text messages and an affair with an aide that forced him out of office in September 2008. In that case, Kilpatrick was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to Detroit for lying in a civil lawsuit that cost the city $8.4 million.Read the DOJ announcement here.
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