A former city official in charge of helping operate the Detroit People Mover, the looping shuttle transporting passengers around downtown Detroit, pocketed bribes from a businessman who received more than $300,000 in phony contracts, according to a federal criminal case unsealed Tuesday.
Oak Park resident Michael Anderson, 55, the former strategic sourcing and procurement director of the Detroit Transportation Corp., received bribes from Detroit businessman Terrence Parker, 51, during a conspiracy that ran from February 2023 to March 2025, an FBI special agent alleged in the unsealed case.
The conspiracy involved Anderson and Parker defrauding the Detroit Transportation Corp. by creating and submitting invoices and receiving payment for information technology work for Parker’s company, Total Care Restoration (TCR), according to the FBI. But the work was never performed.
Parker deposited transportation corporation checks into his company’s bank account and frequently would withdraw some of the deposit in cash, the government alleged. Those withdrawals coincided with Anderson depositing cash into his own bank account.
“There is probable cause to believe that Parker paid Anderson a portion of the money from the TCR invoices,” the FBI agent wrote.
The complaint marked a rare new bribery scandal at a Detroit City Hall ravaged by waves of corruption cases in the last 20 years. Those scandals involved former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, several City Council members ― including Monica Conyers and Andre Spivey ― bureaucrats, appointees and contractors sentenced to federal prison.
A broader FBI crackdown on corruption across Metro Detroit in recent years has led to convictions and prison sentences for more than 130 public officials across Metro Detroit. That includes a state senator, a House speaker, Detroit suburban politicians, cops and councilmen, township officials, two United Auto Workers union presidents and school leaders.
Anderson and Parker were released on $10,000 unsecured bonds after making initial appearances in federal court in Detroit. Their court-appointed lawyer, Sara Garber, did not respond immediately to a message seeking comment.
Anderson and Parker were each charged with conspiracy and federal program theft/bribery. If convicted, they face up to 10 years on the bribery charge and five years for conspiracy.
The criminal case involved investigations by the FBI and Detroit Police Department that examined Anderson’s tenure working for the Detroit Transportation Corp. from March 2022 until he was fired in April 2025 for unrelated conduct. As director, Anderson reviewed proposals and helped choose vendors to work for the corporation, which was created by the city to operate the People Mover.
The roots of the investigation were not immediately clear and it was unknown how much the FBI believes Anderson received in bribes. But in one example, in the days after Parker withdrew $18,000 from a transportation corporation check in August 2024, Anderson deposited $6,350 cash into his account.
A court filing shows investigators used computer, bank and phone records to help uncover the alleged scheme.
Those records show that from early 2023 through mid-March 2025, the corporation paid Parker’s firm $304,912, almost exclusively for IT work. The payments were made despite Parker’s firm specializing not in technology, but in restoration work on homes damaged by fire, water, windstorms and other elements.
“There is no indication that either Parker or anyone else with TCR has experience with, or knowledge of, information technology,” the FBI agent wrote. “TCR never submitted a bid proposal to the (transportation corporation) nor did TCR sign any contract. . .”
Invoices reviewed by investigators showed Anderson’s signature on invoices for $15,800 worth of work repairing computer monitors that the FBI says was never performed.
Much of the IT work at the Detroit Transportation Corp. was awarded to three other information technology companies.
“There is probable cause to believe Anderson copied the language and work from the invoices and proposals of contracted IT companies in order to create TCR’s invoices, and TCR did not perform the IT work described in its invoices,” the FBI agent wrote.
Phone records show Anderson and Parker were in frequent contact during the alleged scheme. That included more than 300 phone calls and 1,395 text messages, including contact surrounding the days when the transportation corporation cut checks to Parker’s firm, according to the government.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: New Detroit City Hall bribery scandal emerges as feds charge two
Reporting by Robert Snell, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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