A judge in Detroit, Michigan, is part of a group of suspects accused of targeting incapacitated people in an embezzlement plot.
The judge was identified as 46-year-old Andrea Bradley-Baskin of Michigan’s 36th District Court, Fox 2 reported on Friday.
In addition to the judge, the other suspects in the case are Nancy Williams, 59; Attorney Avery Bradley, 72, the judge’s father; and Dwight Rashad, 69.
In a press release on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced the group was charged via indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“The indictment also charges Bradley with one count of wire fraud, Bradley, Bradley-Baskin, and Rashad with several counts of money laundering, and Bradley-Baskin with a single count of making a false statement to federal law enforcement agent,” the news release said.
It continued:
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.
The suspects are accused of conspiring to embezzle funds from wards and use the money for themselves.
“In one instance, Bradley-Baskin is alleged to have used $70,000 in a ward’s funds to purchase an ownership stake in a local bar… Bradley-Baskin, in yet another case, is alleged to have used money embezzled from the estate of a ward to pay a two-year lease on a new Ford Expedition for herself,” the office explained.
When speaking of the case, with which he is not involved, attorney Mike Morse told Fox, “They’re all working together to divert funds for personal use, and it’s disgusting if this is true.”
“There are very few people, if anybody, looking at the funds. They can spend it illegally, and usually they don’t get caught. I’m sure this is going on,” he added.
Bradley-Baskin was reportedly elected judge in 2024, per Click on Detroit.
In her statement regarding the case, Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said:
Regardless of a person’s position in society, no one is above the law. These four defendants allegedly conspired to steal from some of our most vulnerable citizens — looting bank accounts, exploiting legal authority, and profiting off those who relied on them for care and protection. Let me be clear: if you prey on the vulnerable, we will find you and bring you to justice.
The FBI and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations are investigating the case.
