Detroit Treasurer Sues Mayor Kilpatrick|And Former Aide For $27 Million

DETROIT (CN) - Suing on behalf of the citizens of Detroit, a law office demands treble damages from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, claiming they paid "hush money" to fired police officers who had sued the city, and "committed perjury to hide their extramarital affair and the circumstances surrounding their decision to fire the plaintiffs in that suit. That lawsuit was tried to a jury which awarded the plaintiffs $8.4 million."

"Kilpatrick and Beatty perpetrated a fraud upon the City of Detroit when they caused to be submitted to City Council a settlement which intentionally omitted the fact that a substantial portion of the money to be paid Nelthrope and Brown was paid in consideration of their promise not to reveal the criminal acts and adultery of Kilpatrick and Beatty and was therefore intended for the private benefit of Kilpatrick and Beatty," the complaint from Corbett Edge O'Meara states in Circuit Court.

Corbett Edge O'Meara, suing as "a statutorily authorized representative of the taxpayers of the City of Detroit, and the Treasure of the City of Detroit," claims that Kilpatrick paid off police officers Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope, who sued the city after they were fired.

"Defendants demanded and received a promise that Nelthrope, Brown and their lawyers would not reveal evidence which proved that Beatty and Kilpatrick had committed perjury and engaged in an adulterous relationship," the complaint states. "This 'hush money' side agreement was for the private benefit of Kilpatrick and Beatty. The concealment of adultery and perjury is not within the public interest such that paying to conceal it is a proper use of public funds. Paying 'hush money' for the private benefit of Kilpatrick and Beatty would be an improper use of public funds even absent any fraud."

Plaintiffs demand $27 million from Kilpatrick and Beatty. He adds: "Plaintiff in this cause has submitted to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the head of the executive branch of the City of Detroit, a Demand that he immediately sue Beatty and Kilpatrick for the moneys that he defrauded the City of." However, the complaint states, "Mayor Kilpatrick has not sued himself and his former Chief of Staff on behalf of the taxpayers, and it seems unlikely that he will do so."

NOTE: The original version of this story misidentified Corbett Edge O'Meara as the Detroit city treasurer, rather than as a law office suing on behalf of the city treasurer and Detroit's citizens. The version of the story, above, is correct.

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