Detroit – City councilor, Gabe Leland, was charged Thursday by a federal grand jury for bribery and accused of accepting $ 15,000 from a businessman.

Leland, 35, was charged with plotting corruption and two counts of corruption a day after Elisa Grubbs, a member of his campaign staff, was charged with alleged conspiracy.

Leland is the highest-ranking politician in Detroit and has been charged with a federal crime since former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted eight years ago and finally sentenced to 28 years of imprisonment. jail.

The indictment marks the next phase of a crackdown on public corruption that emerged two years ago in Macomb County before expanding to Detroit. More than 20 people have been charged and prosecutors have obtained at least 14 convictions from politicians, an assistant chief of the Detroit police and businessmen, including the tycoon. Chuck Rizzo garbage and titan Gasper Fiore from Detroit.

"An incumbent Detroit City Council member engaged in bribery is an extreme attack on the confidence of Detroit residents, who seriously undermine their trust in local government," said US Attorney Matthew Schneider. in a statement.

The alleged conspiracy occurred from May 2017 to August 2017 and Leland is charged with having solicited and accepted $ 15,000 in cash and free car repairs from a local business owner. , which The News has identified as Robert Carmack. In exchange, Leland agreed to help delay or prevent the city's sale of the Carmack property, prosecutors said.

Leland received $ 7,500 on August 4, 2017, four days before his victory in the municipal council primary elections, prosecutors said.

"As clearly demonstrated the lawsuits against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and several corrupt members of his government, federal law enforcement forces are committed to eliminating and punishing him. severe corruption at all levels of city governance, "said Schneider.

In the event of a conviction, Leland incurs up to 10 years in prison, a fine of USD 250,000 for each briber and five years in prison for corruption.

The $ 7,500 bribe described by prosecutors represents less than 10% of the $ 80,730 paid by Leland as a city councilor.

"It's always so amazing and so striking in this business that someone sells his career for $ 7,500," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and former federal attorney.

Leland could not be reached for a comment immediately Thursday.

"It's old news," his lawyer Steve Fishman told The News. "As already said Temptations," the more we look away, the less we see ".

Leland has been living under a cloud of suspicion for almost a year since The News got FBI sealed affidavits on phone tapping revealing that he was the target of an FBI corruption investigation.

Leland was re-elected in November for a second four-year term on Detroit City Council. He took office for the first time in January 2014 after spending six years at the State House.

The advisor is the son of Burton Leland, longtime public office holder in the House of Representatives and Senate, and Wayne County Commissioner. Burton Leland died in February after a long battle with cancer.

"The public is demanding and entitled to honest officials," said Timothy Slater, FBI Special Agent Detroit Field Office. – and which betray this trust – will be held responsible. "

New questions came up in April, when Carmack sued Leland and other people, claiming that he had handed a $ 7,500 envelope in an envelope to a Leland campaign agent at the end of the year. Summer 2017.

The charges against him date from a few weeks before the August 2017 primary elections in Detroit. Leland was running for reelection and Carmack was trying to resolve a dispute over a property he owned at 8124 Michigan Ave. Carmack alleges that the city illegally demolished his commercial building with federal funds and was attempting to sell the property.

Carmack was afraid of being extorted, so he approached the FBI, according to the lawsuit.

The day after Leland asked for $ 15,000, Leland called the businessman and told him that he would send someone to get the money, according to the lawsuit.

On the same day, a woman who, according to Carmack, was a Leland campaign worker met him in an adjacent street near a bank located on East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, according to the lawsuit.

"During the exchange, (Carmack) explains to the campaign officer that the money in the envelope was intended for the accused Leland. The campaign agent responds by stating that it was not for her and that she would hand the money over to the accused. Leland immediately, "says the lawsuit.

The next day, Carmack said he met Leland.

"Leland responded that he had actually received money from the campaign worker," said Carmack's lawyer, Andrew Paterson, in the lawsuit.

Carmack was free to do what he wanted with commercial property, said Leland, according to the lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Paterson identified Grubbs as the campaign member who received and paid the bribe. Carmack thinks he's the unidentified businessman mentioned in the criminal case, Paterson said.

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Christine Ferretti has contributed

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