Ferguson Ordered To Pay $6.2M In Detroit Corruption Case
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Former city contractor Bobby Ferguson, convicted of corruption along with ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, has been ordered to pay $6.2 million.
The money would go to the Detroit water department, which awarded lucrative contracts to Ferguson, who is a friend of the former mayor.
The pair was convicted of conspiracy, extortion and other crimes at a corruption trial last year.
Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds issued the restitution order Thursday for Ferguson. Kilpatrick has been ordered to pay $4.5 million, but that amount would be reduced by any money recovered from Ferguson.
Kilpatrick is broke and also owes $195,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and $800,000 to Detroit in a different criminal case.
He is serving a 28-year prison sentence, while Ferguson is serving a 21-year sentence.
This comes one day after Kilpatrick's father, 72-year-old Bernard Kilpatrick, reported to a Texas prison — where is son is also incarcerated — months after being sentenced on a single tax charge in the case. The elder Kilpatrick was ordered to serve 15 months in prison after the jury failed to reach a consensus on multiple other charges.
Prosecutors say Kwame Kilpatrick was the mastermind of a "pay-to-play" system for the provision of city goods and services which compromised vast swaths of city government, including the water and sewer system, the convention center, the pension system, casino developments and recreation centers.
Kwame Kilpatrick was found guilty of shaking down contractors, ensuring Ferguson got millions in city work and turning a nonprofit fund to help struggling Detroiters into a personal slush fund, according to evidence at a five-month trial.
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