A bribery scandal within the Wayne County Treasurer’s office widened Tuesday with federal prosecutors filing criminal charges against a third person, an investment company owner in Detroit, who is accused of fraudulently obtaining houses from more than a dozen residents.
Kelly One Investments owner Kevin Kelly was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is expected to plead guilty, according to a criminal information filed in federal court in Detroit. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said Kelly conspired from May 2023-October 2023 with Detroiter Jontae Jackson, a former taxpayer assistant in the Wayne County Treasurer’s office, and Detroiter Zina Thomas, director of home ownership programs for the United Community Housing Coalition, a Detroit nonprofit that helps low-income residents stay in their homes.
The alleged scheme involved Kelly paying money to Jackson and Thomas to remove properties from the Wayne County tax foreclosure list and enrich themselves. Thomas would facilitate a private sale, and the properties would be flipped or transferred to others, according to the government.
“During the scheme, Kelly acquired at least 15 properties off the foreclosure list with an aggregate value of approximately $1,033,800,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Neal and Ryan Particka wrote in the criminal case.
Kelly did not respond immediately to a message seeking comment.
The case is the latest filed in a long-running prosecution of public corruption in Metro Detroit. The crackdown has led to convictions and prison sentences for more than 130 public officials, including a state senator, a House speaker, Detroit and suburban mayors, cops and councilmen, township officials, two United Auto Workers union presidents and school leaders.
Thomas and Jackson pleaded guilty to federal charges in November and are awaiting possible prison sentences next month.
In the county case, Kelly, Thomas, Jackson and others targeted properties for removal from the tax foreclosure list, the criminal case alleged.
Thomas supplied phony documents that were later uploaded to the county’s Property Tax Administration system, which allowed Jackson to remove the properties from the list, according to prosecutors.
“Thomas and others paid Jackson for each property Jackson removed from the tax foreclosure list that Thomas was later able to sell or transfer to another person or entity,” prosecutors alleged.
Kelly, meanwhile, paid Thomas for help getting Jackson to remove properties from the list and sell the properties to him, the case reads.
Kelly also paid for privileged information that helped him target specific properties, the prosecutors said.
“On at least one occasion, after consultation with Thomas, Kelly provided false and fraudulent identification documents to a title company in an attempt to remove a cloud on the title of a property he was attempting to resell,” prosecutors wrote.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Wayne County bribery scandal widens as feds charge third person
Reporting by Robert Snell, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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