Ferguson Indicted In Detroit Corruption Probe
There's been another federal indictment concerning corruption in the City of Detroit. The U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit Wednesday announced the eight count indictment against Bobby Ferguson, who is a good friend of ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The indictment charges Ferguson with obtaining millions of dollars in public works contracts through fraud, false statements and bid collusion. Those alleged offenses took place as part the Garden View Estates project, a mixed use multi-unit public housing development located at the site of the former Herman Gardens at Joy and Tireman on Detroit's westside.
The indictment charges Ferguson and seven co-defendants including Shakib Deria of Troy, Michael Woodhouse of West Bloomfield and Calvin L. Hall of Detroit, Michigan with conspiracy to defraud the United States, mail fraud and money laundering.
The indictment alleges Ferguson formed several companies and in turn steered contracts for the housing project to those companies owned by Ferguson.
One other charge is conspiracy to willfully injure property of the United States. Those charges arise from Ferguson Enterprises improperly dumping construction debris, soil and excavated materials at the Garden View Estates site.
The debris was from other job sites, but the federal government claims Ferguson avoided "hundreds of thousands of dollars in disposal fees and instead dumped multiple truckloads of excavated soil, construction debris and other materials at the Garden View Estates site."
Preliminary estimates indicate that it will cost the Department of Housing and Urban Development more than $1.2-million to remove and properly dispose of the soil and debris and to clean up sections of the Garden View Estate site which are now contaminated.
In announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney McQuade said, in a statement,"The unsealing of this indictment marks a decisive step to end the era of fraud and corruption in publicly funded projects in the City of Detroit. Misuse of funds meant to provide safe and affordable public housing is simply intolerable."
This indictment and the associated charges are part of the continuing investigation into he corruption and fraud that has long plagued the City of Detroit," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena.
"The FBI, with our law enforcement partners, will continue to investigate and expose the individuals who participate in these schemes involving blatant greed," Arena said.
View a copy of the indictment (.pdf format)
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