Kilpatrick's objection overruled: Judge orders garnishment of Comerica account he said his wife owned

A judge has ordered Comerica Bank to turn over more than $13,000 in an account linked to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick as payable towards restitution. 

The garnishment order was signed Thursday, according to a document filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Comerica Bank was ordered to "remit said funds to the United States" and be payable to the clerk of courts handling the case. 

The money will then be disbursed "in accordance with the provisions of the judgment entered." 

That court order was for restitution in Kilpatrick's ongoing legal saga. 

Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years for wire fraud and tax evasion activities that occurred when he was mayor. He served seven years and was granted clemency from further prison time by President Trump in January 2021. The restitution matter remained intact.

The former mayor had agreed in February to pay $823,649.09 in restitution to the city, which is more than the $155,000 he claimed he owed. As part of that agreement, Kilpatrick acknowledged that any pension benefits and other forms of income would be garnished.   

Federal officials found the business checking account in this matter in the meantime. 

A document filed earlier this year by federal authorities in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan details an account at Comerica Bank that has $13,167 in funds. The account is listed in the name of Pathfinder Consulting LLC, as nominee of Kwame Kilpatrick.

The judge's ruling on Thursday noted that Kilpatrick objected to the garnishment of the Comerica Bank account, asserting that he did not own the account and that the business assets are owned and managed by his wife, LaTicia Kilpatrick. 

But the judge overruled that argument.