Detroit ex-mayor's alleged schemes detailed

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 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 ex-mayor's best friend, Bobby Ferguson.

Chutkow said Kilpatrick, 42, deposited more than $200,000 in cash in his bank account and paid his credit card bills with an additional $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.

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. If convicted, he could be sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.

The government alleges that he rigged city contracts to put Ferguson's construction company in line for millions of dollars in work. The source of many public deals was the Detroit water department, which had more than $1 billion to spend on services. Its former chief, Victor Mercado, is a co-defendant.

Kilpatrick, 42, also is accused of taking kickbacks from his campaign fundraiser and tapping a nonprofit fund "like a personal ATM" for vacations, summer camps for his kids, golf clubs and other perks not reported as income on his tax returns.

Kilpatrick's defense attorney, James Thomas, called the government's case a "scam."

Source: http://feeds.sfgate.com/click.phdo?i=9a01b47528d16bfeef7b81c47c3e5932

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