Duggan involved in leak of FBI source's identity
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Mayor Mike Duggan confirmed yesterday that he unwittingly disclosed the identity of a confidential FBI source last year during an ongoing city corruption investigation.
Flashback: The leak not only risked endangering the confidential source's safety but harmed the investigation into Detroit's towing operations, federal prosecutors said in January.
- Prosecutors blamed former Council Member Andre Spivey for the leak, writing in a sentencing memo that he told his chief of staff and another, unnamed public official about the confidential FBI source who paid him bribes.
- Another target of the investigation subsequently learned the informant's identity, according to prosecutors.
Why it matters: The Detroit News reported yesterday that Duggan was the unnamed public official involved in Spivey's leak, telling others inside and outside of city government about the source's identity after talking to Spivey.
Driving the news: Duggan confirmed the substance of the report at a Mackinac Policy Conference press event yesterday, stressing he didn't know the person was an FBI source.
- "Andre Spivey never said a word about a confidential source – nothing like that," Duggan said. "Now, if anybody had suggested there was a confidential source involved, I wouldn't have said a word."
Context: The confidential source is a central figure in the federal investigation, known as Operation Northern Hook.
- So far, six people have been charged.
- The source, who is involved in the local towing industry, paid bribes to Spivey at recorded meetings. In January, Spivey was sentenced to two years in prison for receiving almost $36,000 in bribes.
What they're saying: At the press event, Duggan described how Spivey confided in him last year about the feds' evidence that he took bribes.
- Duggan said he told police and the law department about the tower's identity because the person already was under the city's scrutiny.
- Spivey "said nothing at all to suggest it was anything other than the feds had caught both of them," Duggan said.
- Duggan would not name those outside of city government with whom he discussed the confidential source.
The intrigue: Years before the meeting with Spivey, Duggan and the police department began overhauling the city's corruption-plagued towing operations through criminal investigations and lawsuits.
What's next: The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment yesterday on Duggan's account, and the investigation is still ongoing.