Bribery probe closes in on Conyers

City Council member weighs federal plea deal

Leonard N. Fleming and Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers said Tuesday she's trusting God to deliver her from her mounting problems -- a possible federal indictment and the prospect of prison.

Prosecutors who offered Conyers a chance to plead guilty to a five-year bribery-related felony charge in return for expected leniency wanted an answer by the end of Tuesday, persons familiar with the investigation said, though it was not clear that represented a firm deadline.

Conyers, who had not answered by the end of the business day, does not want to go to jail and is resisting pleading to an offense more serious than a misdemeanor, sources said.

The federal investigation of Conyers has focused on an alleged pattern of behavior that includes accusations she demanded and accepted cash and other benefits in connection with her duties as a council member and her former role as a trustee of the city's General Retirement System, persons familiar with the investigation said.

Steve Fishman, Conyers' attorney, declined to comment.

Conyers, wife of U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, ducked reporters Tuesday, but alluded to the controversy during a live broadcast of her show on WHPR-TV (Channel 33), saying "all these things going on right now, I believe in my heart, God will deliver me from."

"If you're not praying for me, you're just adding to the problem ...," Conyers said. "If you don't have the truth to say, then keep your comments to yourself. You can't comment on me, my husband or my family, because you don't know us."

Monday's guilty plea to a bribery conspiracy charge by Detroit businessman Rayford W. Jackson stepped up the pressure on Conyers, identified by persons familiar with the FBI investigation as the "Council Member A" referred to in court documents. Jackson admitted using a courier on four occasions to send Council Member A bribes totaling more than $6,000 in connection with a $1.2 billion sewage sludge contract the council awarded to Synagro Technologies Inc. of Texas in 2007.

Conyers switched her position from opposing to supporting the Synagro contract, allowing it to pass in a 5-4 vote.

Prosecutors gave Conyers a chance to plead to a five-year felony in return for a reduced sentence.

The government has electronic surveillance evidence that allegedly links Conyers to receiving payments in connection with the Synagro deal, sources said.

The prospect of a Conyers indictment means Detroit remains mired in scandal four months after former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick completed 99 days in the Wayne County Jail on obstruction of justice and assault charges. A wide-ranging FBI investigation of City Hall continues.

It also could be a political embarrassment to her husband, who is chairman of the committee that oversees the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office.

Other matters involving Monica Conyers that have interested federal investigators include:

• An alleged shakedown involving political consultant and former Conyers aide Sam Riddle, Conyers and the representatives of the Zoo Bar in Detroit's Greektown area. Principals of the strip club have told a federal grand jury that Riddle asked for a $25,000 bribe on behalf of Conyers to help with the transfer of an operating permit, court records show. Riddle, who denied the allegations in January, could not be reached Tuesday.

• Alleged demands for benefits in dealings involving Conyers, Riddle and the pawn shop-jewelry store Zeidman's, which has outlets in Detroit and Southfield.

• Alleged use of city-paid workers to perform personal jobs. Several former Conyers' staffers have testified before the grand jury, persons familiar with the investigation said. Last year, the city settled a potential lawsuit from former staffer Yakima Washington, who was expected to allege she was fired after refusing to perform personal errands for Conyers, such as picking up her dry cleaning.

• An investment proposal from Phoenix Group Consultants Inc. of Detroit that came before the General Retirement System in 2008, while Conyers was a trustee. A grand jury subpoena that was served on the pension fund seeking Conyers' expense reports and other records also requested records related to the Phoenix Group and businessman Melvin Washington, a principal in the company. Washington did not return a phone message left at his office Tuesday.

• A demand Conyers allegedly made to a representative of a pension fund adviser to buy her a $250 blouse at a Burberry store during a trip to Florida. Conyers was on the trip to inspect a residential real estate investment the General Retirement System made near Sarasota. A representative of CAP Advisors of Northville has told the grand jury he bought Conyers the blouse after she demanded he make the purchase, persons familiar with the investigation said.

Jackson, who was Synagro's local partner on the sewage sludge deal, told The Detroit News in an exclusive interview published Saturday that he is not willing to testify against others charged in the case. But Jackson's courier, who allegedly placed envelopes containing cash in Conyers' hands and is identified by persons familiar with the investigation as Jackson's brother, Lennie, is cooperating with federal prosecutors, according to court documents.

"They're tightening the noose," said Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor.

"You have the payer, and then if the conduit is cooperating, that is two very important pieces of the puzzle."

Also willing to testify is ex-Synagro official James R. Rosendall Jr., who admitted in January he gave Jackson thousands of dollars to bribe Council Member A and others in connection with the Synagro deal and a deal for a city composting facility.

Some money intended for Conyers was allegedly paid to Riddle, who has said his phone was tapped by the FBI.

Conyers, who showed up at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Tuesday, declined to speak to reporters and was largely silent during the meeting except to pitch a community event. She skipped a night meeting.

Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said the scandal is "an affront to all of us who don't do business that way."

"Hopefully we're moving toward conclusion, but not fast enough," Kenyatta said.

Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. told reporters after the session that he wants indictments to move quickly.

"The bottom line is this whole Synagro issue has been out there some time. I'm of the mindset of whatever they've got, bring it," Cockrel said.

"I know in my experience with federal investigations, they tend to be slow and meticulous, but when they come, they come like a ton of bricks. My feeling is if they are going to come like a ton of bricks, they ought to come now."

pegan@detnews.com (313) 222-2069 Detroit News Staff Writers Christine MacDonald and Darren A. Nichols contributed.