Detroit Judge Charged In Plot To Embezzle Money From Over 1,000 'Incapacitated Individuals'
A Detroit judge, her attorney father, and two other individuals were charged by federal prosecutors in an alleged "years-long scheme" to embezzle nearly $300,000 from individuals deemed incapacitated or otherwise vulnerable.
Judge Andrea Bradley-Baskin, 46, is alleged - among other things, "to have used $70,000 in a ward’s funds to purchase an ownership stake in a local bar," and "money embezzled from the estate of a ward to pay a two-year lease on a new Ford Expedition for herself."
In addition to Bradley-Baskin, her father, Avery Bradly, 72, Nancy Williams, 59, and Dwight Rashad, 69, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and several counts of money laundering. The judge was also hit with a single count for making a false statement to a federal law enforcement agent.
Bradley-Baskin and her father Avery represented a firm that was appointed to manage the estates of incapacitated wards of over 1,000 cases, the DOJ claims. The firm, Guardian & Associates, was run by indicted co-conspirator Nancy Williams, and would siphon funds from the estates of vulnerable individuals to the judge and her father - along with to a group home operator, Dwight Rashad, officials allege.
Bradley, Rashad, and Williams are accused of stealing $203,000 from one ward's legal settlement, while spending nothing on the individual.
Guardian and Associates is further accused of paying out sums to Rashad for individuals who weren't even living in his facilities, the indictment claims.
According to the indictment, probate courts regularly appoint guardians and conservators to manage the personal and financial affairs of adults, known as wards, who have been found by the court to lack the capacity to do so themselves. Guardians and conservators are fiduciaries who are obligated to act in the best interests of their wards. The indictment alleges that Nancy Williams owned Guardian and Associates, an agency that was appointed as a fiduciary by the Wayne County Probate Court for incapacitated wards in over 1,000 cases.
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Avery Bradley is an attorney, who, along with his daughter (and fellow attorney) Andrea Bradley-Baskin, operated a law firm that often represented Guardian and Associates in Wayne County Probate Court and otherwise practiced regularly in that court. Bradley-Baskin is currently a district judge on Michigan’s 36th District Court. Dwight Rashad operated a series of group homes and residential facilities for elderly individuals, including wards, who needed support and care. -DOJ
They also claim Williams paid Rashad rent for wards who never lived in his facilities. Lawyers for Bradley-Baskin have not responded to requests for comment. The case is being investigated by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation.
"We respect the authority that covers a black robe. This state judge and her cronies allegedly abused that high honor for personal gain by preying on the needy protected by the court," said U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon in a statement. "This would be a grievous abuse of our public trust."
FBI Detroit Field Office chief Jennifer Runyan said, “Regardless of a person’s position in society, no one is above the law,” and accused the defendants of exploiting their authority to profit from vulnerable people.