Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wants a federal judge to nix his remaining federal restitution, saying in a recent court filing he’s suffered enough and there is a misconception as to how much money he needs to pay following his public corruption convictions.
The feds say no way: On Thursday, Dec. 11, they filed a new request to garnish money from Kilpatrick. The document states he owes $823,681.18 as of the filing.
“More than 30 days has elapsed since demand for payment of the debt was made, and the Defendant has failed to satisfy the debt,” the filing states, referencing Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick has repeatedly disputed how much money he owes. His latest filing comes amid a years-long saga over Kilpatrick, others tied to his scandal and what they owe taxpayers.
In a federal court record filed Tuesday, Dec. 10, Kilpatrick says his restitution amount should be close to $155,000, citing a letter he says he received from federal prosecutors in 2023. But in 2024, a federal judge determined he owed roughly $830,000. At the time, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds said Kilpatrick had paid a little more than $9,000 in restitution to date.
Kilpatrick filed his recent motion in a case also before Edmunds.
In the past, federal prosecutors vigorously contested the notion Kilpatrick paid his debt, instead saying his previous legal filings sought to “delay or frustrate collection efforts.”
The most recent filing references the “Michigan Department of Treasury, Third Party Withholding Unit.” Federal prosecutors indicate they believe the treasury has something tied to Kilpatrick that should go toward restitution.
Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon, said, “We don’t have any comment and will let the filings speak for themselves.”
Additionally, federal restitution figures appear separate from the up to $1 million in restitution he agreed to pay as part of his state conviction when he resigned as mayor in 2008.
Earlier this year, a spokesman for Mayor Mike Duggan said Kilpatrick still owed the city $868,745.40.
Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, told the Free Press in April it was on the city to use its lawyers to go after money Kilpatrick owes. Miller said this past week their stance hasn’t changed.
“The Kilpatrick case is unique in that their restitution order benefitted the City of Detroit. As the complainant, the city has the clearest standing to do garnishments or other recovery options, not the county,” Miller said in an emailed statement.
“The City of Detroit more properly has a law department that handles civil matters such as these.”
Kilpatrick wrote his most recent filing himself, not relying on a lawyer. In this request to end his restitution, he argued his life is on a new path following years in prison and President Donald Trump commuting his sentence in 2021.
“When released from this restitution burden (and the surrounding activities by federal attorneys, agencies, and media) he would be able to seek, produce, and achieve additional opportunities for the betterment of his family and community,” Kilpatrick wrote about himself in the filing.
“Kilpatrick respectfully requests that the court recognize the severe private, public, and community penalty he has paid for the offenses charged in this matter and the progress he has made over the last 12 years, by correctly modifying the present balance of outstanding restitution … and prayerfully terminate any further payments or actions in this matter.”
In his filing, the former mayor describes his life in prison and what he’s done since Trump commuted his sentence. While in prison, Kilpatrick states he worked in the chapel and took programs including Bible courses, carpentry and culinary arts. Since his release, he notes he has remarried and moved back to Michigan. As an ordained minister, he says he’s been invited to, “preach, teach, and speak throughout the United States of America, Africa, and the Caribbean.”
Kilpatrick does not include a resident address in his filing, instead providing the address for a post office in Northville.
He argues the amount of restitution that should be waived is in the neighborhood of $155,000, because federal authorities took assets from his co-defendant, Bobby Ferguson. At least some of the money gleaned from the assets forfeited by Ferguson, a contractor also convicted in the Kilpatrick corruption scandal, are supposed to count toward his debts as well.
He made similar arguments in 2024, before Edmunds determined Kilpatrick still owed more than $830,000. At the time, federal prosecutors argued he’d already received credit for Ferguson’s payments.
Ferguson also recently pushed the federal court to change his restitution payments. But on Dec. 2, U.S. Edmunds denied his request.
Earlier this year federal prosecutors also asked a bank to fork over money in an account tied to Bernard Kilpatrick, Kwame Kilpatrick’s father, in connection to a tax evasion conviction stemming from the public corruption case.
Prosecutors said Bernard Kilpatrick still owes nearly $36,000. The bank informed the court it had a little under $2,500 in Kilpatrick’s account. In November, Edmunds signed an order requiring the bank send this money to prosecutors as part of the elder Kilpatrick’s mandated restitution.
Earlier this year, the Free Press noted many prominent former metro Detroit officials still owe court-ordered payments. The investigation found about two dozen people in the city and region convicted in high-profile public corruption cases still owe more than $20 million combined in restitution.
Reach Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com and on X @Dave_Boucher1.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kwame Kilpatrick wants feds to cancel restitution. They say pay up
Reporting by Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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