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Councilman Gabe Leland
Robert Carmack, owner of a car repair shop on Detroit's near west side, is suing Detroit City Councilman Gabe Leland, alleging Leland demanded $15,000 for his re-election campaign weeks before the August 2017 primary in exchange for a political favor, Joe Guillen writes at the Detroit Free Press.
Carmack was involved in a property dispute with the city and Leland promised to settle if money was paid, the lawsuit alleges. Carmack claimed he owned the property, but the city was trying to sell it to somebody else.
"Leland demanded and requested (Carmack) to give . . . Leland $15,000 for his re-election campaign," says the 32-page federal suit filed Wednesday.
Carmack, who claims Leland extorted him, seeks at least $1 million. The case also names Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabree as defendants for their roles in the dispute over property ownership at 8124 Michigan Ave.
Leland did not immediately return a call from Deadline Detroit Thursday morning for comment.
Leland's name surfaced late last year in an FBI document that named more than a dozen "target subjects" in a wide public corruption probe. Some of that probe centered on towing king Gasper Fiore, whose daughter dated Leland for a while.
According to Wednesday's lawsuit, after Leland demanded the money, Carmack went to the FBI for advice and "the FBI asked Plaintiff wear a recording device (a “wire”) and to pay Defendant Leland as Defendant Leyland demanded."
The next day, the suit says, Leland told Carmack he'd be sending someone over to pick up the money. The lawsuit adds:
On that same day, a female, purportedly a campaign worker for Defendant Leland, called Plaintiff and said that she needed to come by and pick up the money on behalf of Defendant Leyland. In accordance with the FBI’s request, Plaintiff arranged for Defendant Leland’s female campaign worker to pick up the cash from Plaintiff on a side street near a bank on East Jefferson Ave. in Detroit. As arranged, Plaintiff met the female campaign worker on the side street near a bank on East Jefferson Ave., and gave the campaign worker $7,500 in cash in an envelope, which was to be delivered and given to Defendant Leland.
During the exchange, Plaintiff explains to the female campaign worker that the cash in the envelope was for Defendant Leland and the female campaign worker responds by stated that it was not for her and that she would be delivering the money to Defendant Leland immediately. Plaintiff saw the Defendant Leland the next day in person and Plaintiff asked Defendant Leland if he had received the money he had given the campaign worker.
Defendant Leland responded that he had in fact received the money from the campaign worker and that the Plaintiff was now free to do want every he wanted at his property located at 8124 Michigan Ave., and Defendant Leland further asked the Plaintiff what else was the Plaintiff going to ask the Defendant City for.
Leland later asked Carmack to repair his secretary's car for free, the suit alleges, and in "accordance with the FBI’s instructions" he did so.
