Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who still owes over $1.5 million in restitution, caught crowdsourcing for a luxury condo: Report



Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may be out of federal prison, but that doesn't mean his dealings with the federal government have come to an end. A federal judge has just ordered authorities to seize the money Kilpatrick and his new wife have amassed on a crowdfunding account that they recently created.

According to Fox 2, Kilpatrick's new wife, Leticia, opened an account at crowdsourcing site Plumfund.com to help them raise funds for their new son, Kyng. The page also supposedly listed a second line of funding intended to go toward a luxury condo in Orlando, Florida. Though the account is no longer accessible, as of late last month, the account was active and open to the public and had garnered $1,670 of its $800,000 goal. The account page allegedly requested prospective donors to consider making a contribution of $8,000.

Once reports of the account became public, federal investigators began looking into the fund since Kilpatrick still owes over $1.5 million in restitution to the city of Detroit and the IRS. On Tuesday afternoon, WDIV confirmed that a federal judge had demanded that all funds from the account be seized.

In a recent radio interview with Lloyd Jackson on 760 WJR-AM, Kilpatrick vehemently denied any wrongdoing with the Plumfund account.

"We’re not buying a house, we’re not trying to raise $800,000, we don't want anybody to give $8,000," Kilpatrick told Jackson on air.

"That was a fund that was set up strictly for baby shower gifts. That's all it was," he said. "And there is no site, there is no effort, there's no movement, there's no campaign to raise money for a house."

Whatever the motivation for the account, criminal defense attorney and federal prosecutor Anjali Prashad told Fox 2 that any funds that the Kilpatricks raise would be considered a "substantial resource" that the federal government could then seize to address his government debts.

"The federal government will treat this as something known as substantial resources," she said. "A substantial resource is basically, you win the lotto, you get an inheritance, you get an $800,000 donation, for whatever reason. This is a substantial resource, which the United States of America can then lay claim to."

"There is not a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Michigan and possibly in the United States of America, who doesn't believe that the good city of Detroit is owed restitution by Mr. Kwame Kilpatrick," she added.

"I think it's great. I think it's great he solicits the donations because then, maybe finally the good people of Detroit can get the restitution that has been ordered."

Shortly before he left office, former President Donald Trump granted Kilpatrick clemency for his federal crimes. However, clemency merely adjusted Kilpatrick's prison sentence to time served. It did not remove his local or federal debt obligations.

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Court rules black man enslaved by South Carolina restaurant manager is owed more than $500K



A federal court has ruled that a South Carolina restaurant manager who forced a black man with intellectual disabilities to work in excess of 100 hours a week without pay owes more than $500,000 to the man he effectively enslaved.

The Post and Courier reported last week that the defendant, Bobby Paul Edwards, has been ordered to pay John Christopher Smith, a 43-year-old black man, $546,000 in restitution.

Edwards is currently serving a 10-year sentence on one count of forced labor for coercing Smith to work extensive hours for no pay at J&J Cafeteria in Conway, South Carolina, between 2009 and 2014, according to a Department of Justice press release.

In his original sentencing in November 2019, Edwards was ordered to pay Smith $273,000 in restitution, a figure that covered the minimum wages and overtime pay he had been previously denied. But after federal prosecutors appealed citing the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Fourth Circuit ruled that Smith is entitled to more money since there was considerable delay in his being paid.

"When an employer fails to pay those amounts, the employee suffers losses, which includes the loss of the use of that money during the period of delay. So fully compensating the employee requires accounting for losses from the delay," the court wrote in its decision, adding, "These additional losses could, in part, be compensated by interest."

"We therefore vacate the award of restitution and remand for its recalculation," the court stated.

After the case was sent back to district court for a decision on how much more Smith would be owed, the court decided to double the amount.

Edwards' enslavement of Smith began when Edwards took on management responsibilities at the restaurant where Smith served as a buffet cook, according to court documents. Smith had worked at the restaurant since 1990, when at 12 years of age he started washing dishes and busing tables.

"Edwards effected this forced labor by taking advantage of Jack's intellectual disability and keeping Jack isolated from his family, threatening to have him arrested, and verbally abusing him," the court stated.

"His control over Jack also involved physical abuse," the court added, recalling incidents in which Edwards "dipped metal tongs into hot grease and pressed them to Jack's neck" and "whipped him with his belt, beat him with kitchen pans, and punched him with his fists."

The abusive treatment finally came to an end in 2014, when a relative of an employee alerted authorities to the situation and the South Carolina Department of Social Services intervened.

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