Exclusive interview

Developer cuts losses, will plead in Synagro bribery probe

Leonard N. Fleming / The Detroit News

Detroit --Saying the feds have "my back against the wall," developer Rayford Jackson said he plans to plead guilty Monday in federal court to charges that he conspired to bribe elected officials in connection with a city sludge deal.

In an exclusive interview with The Detroit News, Jackson, 44, said he has accepted a plea deal that would give him a maximum of five years in prison, but it's not one that provides the FBI with coveted information to help indict others in relation to the City Hall sludge scandal. He refused last year to wear a wire.

The flashy, well-connected housing developer, who became a minority contractor and lobbyist to help secure the controversial City Council deal pursued by Synagro Technologies Inc. of Houston, said that "when you're looking at federal charges and doing over 25 years, you want to cut your losses."

"Rather than spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go through a trial -- and I didn't know who all they would charge that will say, 'Rayford did this' -- I decided that this was the best thing to alleviate this whole situation for me," Jackson said. "This puts all of this behind me. I figure I can go in, do this time, and start with a fresh, clean slate."

Jackson would be the fifth person to plead guilty in a long-running Detroit City Hall corruption probe that involves bribes paid in the Synagro deal and contracts awarded at the Cobo Center. Those under scrutiny are close contacts of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, including his father, Bernard N. Kilpatrick.

Interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg would not comment on the purported deal but said Jackson has a court date for 3 p.m. Monday before U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn.

In the wide-ranging interview, Jackson said he has accepted that he must serve time and hoped that Synagro officials at the highest levels are eventually held accountable. He also denied any wrongdoing in a lawsuit alleging he and others duped a Lathrup Village woman in an alleged deed fraud.

Focus on Synagro sought

"There's no bribery or conspiracy to bribe without Synagro," Jackson said. "I think the case should have focused on Synagro."

His comments are aimed in part at James Rosendall, the former Michigan vice president of Synagro, whose conversations with Jackson were caught on wiretaps and videotape. Rosendall, who is cooperating with federal officials, pleaded guilty in January to bribery conspiracy by dispensing cash, private plane flights and champagne to city officials.

Jackson said he is facing bribery conspiracy charges because of the conversations with Rosendall, who Jackson said constantly pressed him about giving bribes to city officials.

Of discussing bribes, Jackson said "whether you do it or not, knowing or unknowing, intentional or unintentional," it's wrong, "and I'm guilty of that."

"But for Synagro not to be charged or not to be fined, I think is a travesty," he added.

"Synagro has cooperated fully with the federal investigation and will continue to do so," said Darci E. McConnell of McConnell Communications, who has been retained as a spokeswoman for Synagro.

Preparing for prison

A native Detroiter and a Morehouse College graduate, Jackson said he stayed in the city he grew up in to build houses. He became a larger-than-life figure, driving fancy luxury cars and wearing expensive clothes and hobnobbing with public officials and movie stars.

His relationship with former Fox 2 anchor Fanchon Stinger also brought scrutiny from federal authorities and cost her a high-profile morning job.

Jackson said he has come to grips in recent months with going to federal prison as accepting the deal became a reality.

"How do you prepare for something that you haven't experienced except through prayer?" asked Jackson. "Spiritual and mental preparation is all you can do."

Jackson said there's some "contrition on my behalf because as a father who has children, anytime you're away from your children, it's tough." Jackson is divorced and has four children.

Last week, a former business associate filed a lawsuit against Jackson and his accountant and others involving a project to rehabilitate houses in Dearborn and Detroit. Tahechia Davis, who identified herself as president of Second Chance, alleges that she was given fake deeds and swindled out of more than $355,000 by Jackson and his business partners.

Jackson contends he was duped in the deal as well as Davis when he and his associates later learned that the alleged owner, Ladelia M. Morris of Real Estate Research Specialist LLD, did not have clear title to the properties to be rehabbed.

Jackson, who is under scrutiny in a criminal investigation in the Second Chance American Dream real estate deal by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, said all he did was refer Davis to the title company and did not defraud her.

"I'm not worried. I never prepared the deeds, and I wasn't the seller or had any ownership in the houses myself," Jackson said. "The money was expensed, and used to pay for advertising, marketing, construction and for the houses and closing costs."

Davis' attorney, Michael Cutler, said that his client has received only $37,500 of the more than $355,000 she invested. Jackson, however, said she has received $50,000 and was supposed to receive clear titles.

Feds take note

But the Synagro deal put Jackson in the crosshairs of the feds.

In late 2007, the Detroit City Council voted 5-4 to give Synagro the contract to handle the city's processed sewage. Synagro, at the behest of Rosendall, selected Jackson's RAS Development to help win council approval of the contract.

Jackson said he was involved in securing a similar deal in Philadelphia at the time and that there were plans for him to work on deals in other cities such as Atlanta and Miami.

But once the FBI investigation of the Synagro contract and city officials became public in mid-2008, Jackson was dismissed by Synagro, and city officials have been working to extricate the city from the tainted deal.

Contract canceled

Days after Rosendall's plea agreement, the city canceled its $1.2 billion sludge-hauling contract in a mutual agreement, and the company agreed not to pursue legal action against the city.

Rosendall began cooperating with the FBI investigation around January 2008, and helped videotape meetings between himself, Jackson and city officials, sources have said.

FBI agents forced the resignation last summer of John Clark, the former chief of staff to Detroit City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., after they showed Cockrel video of Clark allegedly receiving a payment from Rosendall. Clark has not been charged, and Cockrel voted against the deal.

Jackson said he was always "suspicious" of Rosendall, a former member of the Michigan Transportation Commission, because of his dogged attempts to get Jackson to bribe council members and others. He said he remains mystified as to what the feds got on Rosendall to force him to cooperate.

Jackson said he learned that Rosendall was helping the FBI when he took Jackson to go look at an apartment he planned on renting near Wayne State University in June 2008. When Jackson walked in as Rosendall walked away, two agents were in the furnished apartment, waiting.

The agents played footage on a laptop of a taped conversation that he and Rosendall had months earlier. It was then that the feds offered the same deal they gave to Rosendall, Jackson recalled.

Jackson said he declined.

lfleming@detnews.com (313) 222-2072 Paul Egan contributed to this report.