Real Estate Firm Fired by Pension Board Tied to Kilpatrick Probe

The Detroit News reports that a Detroit-based real estate firm that was fired Thursday by the Detroit Police and Fire Pension Board is also accused in a federal indictment of plying former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick with gifts and trips worth $174,000.

The firm, MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors LLC, was let go by the pension board for misspending retirees' money when it used $3.1 million to buy buildings in California without informing the fund. The firm is the largest real estate manager for the pension fund, with $300 million in assets for the system.

The News also found that MayfieldGentry is an unnamed company named in the January indictment of former city Treasurer Jeff Beasley, who is accused of accepting cash, golf clubs, gambling money, tickets to Las Vegas and other gifts for approving more than $200 million in pension fund investments. 

The pension fund, along with the city's pension fund for non-uniformed employes, is also under federal investigation.