A Detroit judge chastised disgraced ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in court yesterday, calling him a liar whose conduct was “reprehensible” for purposely concealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the court following his 2008 convictions. He had been ordered to pay $1 million in restitution, but cried broke when it came time to ante up.
Judge David Groner ordered Kilpatrick to pay close to $320,000 to the court, an amount based on the assets the court discovered Kilpatrick had hidden.
In months of hearings, prosecutors relied on financial records that indicate Kilpatrick was living a lavish lifestyle, including spending thousands on dinners, designer clothing and limousines. He was also accused of hiding income and generously spending over $15k on plastic surgery for his wife, but can we really be surprised about that one? In this one instance he should follow the lead of other philandering husbands and indulge her whenever possible.
Kilpatrick has just four years to pay off the $1 million balance and going forward, he has to agree to a microscopic monthly review of his finances. The judge also said a violation of the new probation order could land him in the slammer again.
Kilpatrick had taken it upon himself to cut his scheduled $6,000 monthly restitution payments in half, which prosecutors feel was a parole violation, and had told the court he only had $6 left after paying all of his bills.
“This court finds it incredulous that this defendant would claim indigence,” Judge Groner said. Groner had already agreed in an earlier hearing to consider, at a later date, whether the text message casanova had violated his parole by reducing his payments and should get jail time. The new revelations may speed the process.
Kilpatrick has paid less than $100,000 of the restitution he was ordered to pay for the convictions stemming from the text message scandal. –gerald radford
Seems this guy just doesn’t know when to quit.