Federal prosecutors have charged three people in connection with a broad bribery scandal tied to the Wayne County Treasurer’s office.
Former deputy treasurer Kevin Kelly, who also owns Kelly One Investments, was the third person charged on Tuesday. He is accused of fraudulently seizing homes from more than a dozen Detroit-area residents by bribing county insiders in exchange for manipulating the county’s tax foreclosure process, according to The Detroit News.
Prosecutors said Kelly conspired from May 2023-October 2023 with Detroiter Jontae Jackson, a former taxpayer assistant in the Wayne County Treasurer’s office, and Detroiter Zina Thomas, director of home ownership programs for the United Community Housing Coalition, a Detroit nonprofit that helps low-income residents stay in their homes.
The alleged scheme involved Kelly paying money to Jackson and Thomas to remove properties from the Wayne County tax foreclosure list and enrich themselves. Thomas would facilitate a private sale, and the properties would be flipped or transferred to others, according to the government.
"During the scheme, Kelly acquired at least 15 properties off the foreclosure list with an aggregate value of approximately $1,033,800," Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Neal and Ryan Particka wrote in the criminal case.
Another Democrat official has been discovered in a federal corruption case involving the Wayne County MI gov
— Sandy (@SD73660) August 31, 2025
Jontae Jackson,a 45-year-old ex-taxpayer assistant from the county treasurer’s office,is facing serious charges including bribery, conspiracy, & aggravated identity theft pic.twitter.com/luiUW1P8c8
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Thomas allegedly supplied fake documents uploaded into the county’s Property Tax Administration system. This allowed Jackson to pull the properties off the foreclosure list. Thomas “paid Jackson for each property Jackson removed from the tax foreclosure list that Thomas was later able to sell or transfer to another person or entity,” prosecutors alleged.
Wayne County bribery scandal widens as feds charge third person https://t.co/n4oquxtX6I
— Robert Snell (@robertsnellnews) March 25, 2026
Kelly allegedly paid for inside information that allowed him to identify and target specific properties. Prosecutors claim that “during the scheme, Kelly acquired at least 15 properties off the foreclosure list with an aggregate value of approximately $1,033,800.”
The state further alleges that “on at least one occasion, after consultation with Thomas, Kelly provided false and fraudulent identification documents to a title company in an attempt to remove a cloud on the title of a property he was attempting to resell.”
If there were ever an argument against property taxes, this story would fit the bill. Not only does it allow the government to steal property one already owns, it is vulnerable to corrupt government officials seeking to use their power to enrich themselves.