No Charges For Ficano In Federal Corruption Probe
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - After a years-long investigation, U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade is declining to press charges against former Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano.
McQuade made the announcement Monday saying that after the conviction of five people in Ficano's administration, the investigation is complete with no new charges.
The former executive is pleased with the outcome of the investigation telling WWJ's Charlie Langton through email that he knew that this would be the outcome...because he knew he did nothing wrong.
Following McQuade's announcement, Ficano released a statement saying: "My record and my good name have been cleared, and I move on with confidence and renewed faith. Those who prejudged and sensationalized the situation and the people involved in it have extracted a heavy price and ruined the reputation of many decent and honest citizens. I hope there is a lesson in this for them."
The three year investigation netted five convictions including that of Ficano aid Michael Grundy who took over $700,000 from a health insurance program. He was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
"It's been a long three and a half years, but my inner self always knew that there was nothing there," Ficano said. "In a way, it's not surprising whatsoever."
The investigation had dogged Ficano's administration, contributing to his re-election loss in the August primary, and followed a FBI probe that sent former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to prison.
"It doesn't do any good to look back, so at this point -- whether it did or didn't -- I'm moving on with my life," Ficano said. "Would you rather have had it two years ago, of course. But at this point it's something that I think, I've appreciated that it's coming out now and I think that I'm ready to move forward."
Ficano's successor -- Warren Evans -- said last week that the county could run out of money by the spring of 2016.
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