The Oakland County treasurer and neighbors are threatening to take former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s $1.1 million home due to unpaid property taxes and assessments, a situation that raises questions about his finances and ability to pay restitution to Detroit taxpayers stemming from the corrupt politician’s racketeering conspiracy conviction.
In recent weeks, Treasurer Robert Wittenberg’s office and Kilpatrick’s homeowners’ association in an affluent Novi enclave have slapped a forfeiture notice and lien on the 3,874-square-foot, five-bed, four-and-a-half-bath home. The home at the end of a tree-lined cul-de-sac is owned by Pathfinder Consulting Firm LLC, a corporation that lists Kilpatrick’s wife, LaTicia Kilpatrick, as the resident agent, though federal prosecutors said they are nominees and that Kwame Kilpatrick has a financial stake in the home.
The home could be foreclosed in early 2027 because property taxes have not been paid in almost four years, city records show. Pathfinder owes more than $47,600 in unpaid property taxes, a $17,596 property tax bill is due next month, and there are $2,916 in delinquent assessments owed to the Southwyck of Novi Homeowner Association, Oakland County property records show.
The financial problems are compounding five months after Kilpatrick, a motivational speaker and pastor, reached a secret deal with federal prosecutors to pay $823,649 in restitution. The deal was finalized one month after prosecutors slapped their own lien on the Novi home. It is unclear whether Kilpatrick has been making restitution payments, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Monday declined comment.
The home appears to be Kilpatrick’s greatest asset, though capitalizing on the property’s increased value could be difficult, said lawyer Keith Corbett, a former federal prosecutor who was the chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force in Detroit.
“Anybody buying would see there was a lien filed on it by the government and be concerned about a cloud over the title,” Corbett said. “So I bet they would buy it for less than fair market value.”
Pathfinder bought the home for $807,000 in December 2023 after obtaining a $645,600 mortgage, property records show. Today, the home is worth an estimated $1.1 million.
John Rickel, a lawyer for the homeowner’s association, declined comment about the lien. Kwame Kilpatrick did not respond to a message seeking comment.
While the amount of delinquent property taxes grows, some bills appear to be getting paid.
On Monday, a lawn-cutting crew was finishing up at Kilpatrick’s yard, blowing grass clippings from a driveway where a bright white late-model Chevrolet Suburban was parked next to a basketball hoop. Next to the SUV was a small black yard sign that read: “NO SOLICITING.”
In Kilpatrick’s case, restitution was imposed after he was accused of running a criminal enterprise out of Detroit City Hall, rigging bids and pocketing more than $840,000 in bribes and kickbacks.
President Donald Trump commuted Kilpatrick’s 28-year corruption sentence in January 2021 but left intact a restitution order that can be enforced for 20 years.
Before reaching the restitution deal, Kilpatrick stopped paying despite earning $10,000 a month, moving into the home and driving luxury vehicles, federal prosecutors said. He also asked the judge at the time, Nancy Edmunds, to terminate the debt, argued he did not owe the money and called continuing demands for payment and an ongoing money hunt a “burden.”
Prosecutors face long odds in collecting restitution.
An analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office showed federal prosecutors nationwide collected $2.95 billion in restitution from 2014-16. But at the end of that period, $110 billion in restitution remained unpaid, and prosecutors said most of that amount, $100 billion, was uncollectible.
Property taxes, however, are not Kilpatrick’s only financial problem.
On July 27, 2022, about 17 months after Kilpatrick left prison, the Internal Revenue Service filed a lien against him for $634,655 in unpaid income taxes, according to Georgia Superior Court records obtained by The Detroit News.
And in April 2018, a federal judge in Detroit awarded a nearly $7.5 million judgment to a firm owned by minority contractor Willie McCormick.
McCormick had sued the former mayor and contractor Bobby Ferguson in 2012, alleging they ran a secret scheme to steer water department work to favored firms.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Kwame Kilpatrick’s Novi home in danger over unpaid taxes, assessments
Reporting by Robert Snell, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Robert Snell, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
