DETROIT (AP) -- An FBI agent testified Wednesday that an ongoing federal financial investigation led him to interview a person at a real estate office who worked with former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his wife to find a leased mansion where they live.
Special agent Robert Beeckman told the court the person at Roxanne Taylor and Associates in Texas told him by telephone Monday that Kilpatrick was aware of lease terms for the mansion in an affluent Dallas suburb.
Beeckman said he was told Kilpatrick didn't sign the lease, but was consulted over the phone by his wife.
Kilpatrick testified last month that he was not sure who is paying the rent on the couple's mansion. "I guess it's a leased home and I'm not party to that lease," he said. "I assume my wife is paying the rent because I'm not."
Wayne County prosecutors contend Kilpatrick has not been truthful about his finances.
Kilpatrick resigned in 2008 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice and pleading no contest to assault. He spent 99 days in jail and was ordered to repay the city $1 million, and wants his $6,000 monthly restitution payments cut in half.
Kilpatrick took the stand again Wednesday afternoon during the restitution hearing and answered questions about how he made payments. During testimony, he wasn't asked about the lease.
"I need to be careful because it seems this has turned into something else besides a restitution hearing," he told the court.
Kilpatrick didn't respond to questions about the federal probe or the lease as he left the hearing. It was to continue Thursday, but now is scheduled to resume Dec. 7 after Kilpatrick's lawyer told the court he was told his client had a chance to bring in $300,000 in commissions to help him pay.
Defense attorney Michael Alan Schwartz said Kilpatrick previously had scheduled a meeting in Dallas because he thought the hearing, which began last month and continued Tuesday and Wednesday, would be over. Kilpatrick is a sales representative for Covisint, a Texas-based subsidiary of Detroit-based Compuware Corp.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner told Kilpatrick he would need proof that the meeting was important enough to force the delay of the hearing.
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