DETROIT – In a city that was hemorrhaging cash daily under his watch, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his dearest friend Bobby Ferguson bilked even more.
The duo lined their pockets with the proceeds of city contracts to live large. Whether it was champagne, private jets or other luxury items, Kwame and Bobby sucked the city of Detroit dry for their own benefit and treated it like their own personal ATM.
Now, the feds want at least some of the money back. They are demanding the two to come up with more than $9 million in restitution. That's only a fraction of the money the feds say they stole.
Both Kilpatrick and Ferguson claim they are broke. Kilpatrick already owes more than $850,000 in restitution to the city of Detroit for the text messaging case.
Ferguson has been forced to forfeit $450,000 in cash, heavy construction equipment and other real estate interests.
In addition to the money, federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence both men to almost three decades in prison.
Read: Kilpatrick, Bobby Ferguson could get 30 years in prison
Kilpatrick is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, followed by Ferguson on Friday.