FBI sting yields tapes on alleged bribes

Prosecutors want to use secret recordings in Riddle's trial

Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- The FBI set up a sting operation in 2007 in which it gave a purported real estate developer $10,000 to bribe members of the Detroit City Council, newly disclosed government records show.

The confidential informant, convicted felon Brandon Rosenberg, pretended he was seeking letters of support from City Council members for a real estate project. He gave the cash to Detroit businessman Rayford W. Jackson, who told Rosenberg in secretly recorded conversations he gave $5,000 to former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers and $2,500 to her aide, Sam Riddle, prosecutors said in documents filed in federal court Thursday.

Although Riddle is not charged with accepting alleged bribes from the FBI sting, prosecutors want to introduce the recorded conversations at his ongoing corruption trial, where he faces seven counts that include conspiracy, extortion and making false statements to the FBI.

Rosenberg never actually saw Jackson hand out the money, the records show.

And John Minock, an attorney for Riddle, said in a court filing late Thursday there's every indication Jackson simply pocketed the entire $10,000 and did not pass on any bribes.

Other wire-tapped conversations, not cited by the government in its court filing, show that Jackson told three different people three different versions of what he did with the money, Minock's court filing said.

Jackson also told Rosenberg he planned to give $3,400 to former Detroit City Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, leaving him $900 short, the government's filing said.

Tinsley-Talabi has not been charged in the City Hall corruption investigation.

"Monica wants five thousand to help you," Jackson tells Rosenberg in a recorded conversation. "Now one thing about Monica, the greedy one, now the one thing about her is ... if she likes you, she will bust her butt for you."

Riddle also wanted $5,000, Jackson said, but he only gave him $2,500. Although Rosenberg accompanied Jackson to City Hall to meet with Conyers and Riddle, Jackson met privately with each of them and made the payments outside of Rosenberg's presence, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gardey said in a court filing.

"Both of them hit me up for money," Jackson told Rosenberg in reference to Conyers and Riddle. "What they do is good cop and bad cop. She sends him out there to shake me, this happens all the time. 'Cause they're greedy and mean."

Recordings suggest pattern

Jackson was sentenced in November to five years in prison for bribing Conyers in connection with the $1.2 billion Synagro sewage sludge contract the Detroit City Council awarded in 2007. Conyers pleaded guilty in June to a bribery conspiracy charge related to Synagro and is to be sentenced March 10.

Today will be the fourth day of evidence in the trial in front of a jury and U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn. Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence today related to the alleged Synagro bribe.

In the recordings, Jackson suggests that at least some money paid to Riddle was in fact going to Conyers. He told Rosenberg Riddle must receive the money " 'cause she can't take it."

It's not clear from the court filings that Jackson said he actually gave $3,400 to Tinsley-Talabi, only that he planned to do so. She lost her re-election bid in November.

"I don't know anything about what you're talking about," Tinsley-Talabi said Thursday when asked if Jackson gave her $3,400. "I am not aware of that."

Prosecutors argue the recorded conversations are relevant to Riddle's case because they show a similar pattern to alleged shakedowns in which business people must hire Riddle as a consultant to get desired action from Conyers. Jackson told Rosenberg in one recorded conversation that Riddle would say the money he received in connection with securing Conyers' letter of support for the real estate deal was in fact "for services he's doing for the Nation of Islam."

Riddle made the same claim when questioned by the FBI after Jackson handed him cash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Oct. 17, 2007, allegedly to be passed on to Conyers in connection with the Synagro deal, Gardey said in the court filing.

Rosenberg pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to launder money in connection with illegal marijuana sales. In November, Cohn sentenced him to 30 months in prison after prosecutors asked for leniency because Rosenberg testified against two co-defendants. Cohn recently delayed Rosenberg's prison reporting date because he was subpoenaed to testify in the Riddle case, court records show.

'That was good stuff'

Thursday, during an off day in Riddle's corruption trial, Riddle joked with the lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Cares, during a brief hallway encounter.

"You guys are bringing it," Riddle told Cares, telling him the prosecution had a good day Wednesday when strip club officials accused Riddle of asking for $25,000 in exchange for Conyers' vote on a strip club license transfer.

"You're a mean man," Riddle told Cares, but, "that was good stuff."

Cares smiled uncomfortably but said nothing.

Also Thursday, a June 1 trial date was set for Riddle's second corruption trial.

That trial, before U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani, relates to allegations that Riddle and his former live-in partner, former state Rep. Mary Waters, bribed former Southfield City Councilman William Lattimore in connection with a pawn shop relocation.

Riddle and Waters have denied the allegations. Lattimore has pleaded guilty to a bribery charge.

pegan@detnews.com (313) 222-2069