Conyers Tied To $40K Pawn Shop Jewelry

From The Detroit News:

Monica Conyers tie to $40K in jewelry probed

Leonard N. Fleming, Paul Egan and Charlie LeDuff / The Detroit News

Friday, June 19, 2009

Detroit — Federal agents are investigating allegations that Councilwoman Monica Conyers received thousands of dollars in jewelry from a pawn shop whose owner urged the council to ease off on plans to increase regulation of his business, people familiar with a City Hall corruption investigation told The Detroit News.

One estimate pegged the value of the jewelry from Zeidman’s Jewelry and Loan at about $40,000, sources said.

Agents also are investigating allegations that Conyers was to receive payment for favorable consideration of an investment proposal or proposals submitted to the General Retirement System, where Conyers was a trustee, by Detroit businessman Melvin Washington and his Phoenix Group companies, sources said.

Conyers, who is the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, has yet to respond to federal prosecutors’ offer to plead guilty to a five-year bribery-related felony charge, the sources said, adding that an indictment could be looming. Conyers doesn’t want to plead to anything more than a misdemeanor, they said.

A former aide, also under investigation in the case, indicated late Thursday that Conyers may not be the only target.

"If I talk, some people will be in trouble," Sam Riddle told The Detroit News Thursday night before taping the WDIV (Channel 4) show "Flashpoint." …

But allegations related to the pawn shop and the pension fund investments also have surfaced as part of a lengthy and wide-ranging investigation of City Hall contracts in which Kilpatrick and his father, business consultant Bernard N. Kilpatrick, are among those under scrutiny.

In March 2007, Conyers and Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins invited a representative of Zeidman’s to appear before the council to express concerns about a planned city and police crackdown on alleged fencing of stolen goods by pawn shops.

The city didn’t adopt the measure…

Zeidman’s, which has stores in Detroit and Southfield, is also connected to an FBI investigation involving Riddle, Southfield City Council member William Lattimore, and former state Rep. Mary Waters. Zeidman’s relocated from one Southfield location to another in 2008, which required the council’s approval…

Conyers also is under investigation on claims that she used her position as a pension trustee to her own gain.

A grand jury subpoena sent to the General Retirement System, obtained by The News, sought information about Conyers’ expense reports and records related to "The Phoenix Group, The Pointe at Belle Harbour, the Whittier, and/or Melvin Washington." …

On Oct. 3, 2007, Conyers made the motion when General Retirement System trustees gave unanimous approval of a $5 million investment and a $9 million credit enhancement for a planned Phoenix Group development called The Pointe at Belle Harbour. However, the development did not go ahead as planned. In 2008, another investment proposal from the Phoenix Group was referred to a consultant for study, minutes of the meeting show. It’s not clear whether that investment went ahead, either…

Mind you, as the article notes, these two new charges are in addition to the earlier reported $6,000 bribery investigation.

You just can’t keep a good woman down.

Not a fighter, like Mrs. Conyers.

(Thanks to CGardner for the heads up.)

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