By Chris Richburg
Allegations of defrauding the City of Detroit amid perjury and obstruction charges are at the center of a $27 million lawsuit, filed against Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty.
The suit, which was filed Tuesday (April 8) by attorney Corbett Edge O’Meara in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of Detroit’s taxpayers, stems from a 2007 lawsuit filed by former Detroit police officers Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope against the pair.
According to court documents, Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury to hide their extramarital affair as well as the circumstances involving the officers’ termination for investigating cases that would expose the affair.
Although Brown and Nelthrope were awarded $8.4 million from their suit, Kilpatrick and Beatty and their attorneys disputed the jury’s decision and vowed that the verdict would be overturned on appeal and the City of Detroit would not compensate the former officers.
Both parties eventually settled their dispute as Nelthrope and Brown hinted that they had evidence to prove Kilpatrick and Beatty’s affair and perjury.
According to reports, the evidence in question was secret text messages from Kilpatrick and Beatty that prove they lied under oath.
The suit also stated that "hush money" was paid to Nelthrope and Brown in exchange for their silence concerning the affair and perjury.
Referencing a law that gives taxpayers the right to sue on behalf of all taxpayers of any political subdivision of the state for any money misappropriated or stolen from that unit of government, O’Meara seeks $27 million as well as attorney’s fees and costs.
Kilpatrick and Beatty are charged with a string of offenses, including perjury and obstruction of justice. Lawyers for both sides testified yesterday (April 9) in front of the City Council.
The testimony is the latest development in a series of hearings conducted by the City Council to investigate why it was never told of the secret arrangement between Kilpatrick and Nelthrope and Brown to end their suit.