DETROIT, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution to the city and $195,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds agreed with prosecutors Tuesday that Kilpatrick benefited from bid-rigging that favored his longtime friend, Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor who was convicted with him, the Detroit News reported. The judge said trial testimony showed Ferguson shared his ill-gotten profits with the mayor.
Kilpatrick, 43, who was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Milan, Mich. He was not present at Tuesday's hearing, where his lawyers tried to make the case for lower restitution.
Edmunds said she would recommend that Kilpatrick be sent to a Texas prison so he can be near his wife, children and other relatives.
Ferguson was sentenced to 21 years. When his restitution is held, prosecutors plan to ask for $6.3 million.
Whether Kilpatrick, who says he has no money, will ever pay the restitution is an open question, the News said He was imprisoned by the state after he failed to make payments ordered after he pleaded guilty to perjury.
Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, said the former mayor has a history of trying to hide assets and not being open about his finances.
