Welcome back. Welcome to 2023, a brand new year, primed and ready for new beginnings and exciting plans and tired clichés.

But it's true, sometimes all you need is a fresh start.

Just ask former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. On January 20th, 2021, former president Donald Trump commuted Kwame's 28-year prison sentence on the way out the door.

Kwame had only served about seven years. Back in 2013, Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 federal felony counts, including male fraud, wire fraud and racketeering related to schemes you'll hear all about in this episode.

But basically, he was providing kickbacks to family and friends for city contracts and defrauded the city of Detroit's pension funds of more than $95 million.

Just one of the reasons the city declared bankruptcy the same year as the former mayor's conviction. Kwame Kilpatrick has also been connected to the still unsolved murder of Tamara Strawberry Green.

According to Norman Yatuma, the attorney representing Green's family in a lawsuit against the former mayor, Kilpatrick allegedly sabotaged the murder investigation to protect himself and his then-wife, Carlita.

Yatuma recently told Fox2DTroidQuote, I'm 100% certain Kwame Kilpatrick played a role in Tammy Green's death. No charges have ever been filed.

Fortunately, after his release, Kwame Kilpatrick said he was no longer interested in politics, so instead, to the surprise of absolutely no one.

Kwame his turn to attention to the pulpit. That's right, Kwame Kilpatrick is now a minister and he has a new baby with a new wife and a new hometown of Atlanta.

But he claims he will always have love for Detroit. I doubt the feeling is mutual.

Anyway, here's to the new beginnings. Cheers. See you in 2024. Just kidding. New episodes of Swindled Will return before then, but until that day, why not become a valued listener at ValuedListener.com?

There's a new bonus episode dropping soon about this lady who convinced a small town in California that she was going to build a $2.8 billion movie studio. It's a wild one.

Probably should be a full-length episode, honestly, but I'm feeling generous in the new year. I hope you are too.

ValuedListener.com. Now please enjoy the mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from season two.

This episode of Swindled may contain graphic descriptions or audio recordings of disturbing events which may not be suitable for all audiences. Listen to discretion is advised.

I would like to see that person come to justice. It don't bother me how long it takes. I just want them to pay for what they did.

Tamara Green wanted to be a nurse and she was well on her way to becoming one, but she had a few courses left to complete before she could trade in the pumps and the glitter for scrubs and comfortable sneakers.

In the meantime, Tamara Green was an exotic dancer. She had bills to pay and three mouths to feed.

So, strawberry that she was known in the club would dance for all of the bored and lonely men who gathered regularly at the top of the spa in the west side of Detroit called All Stars.

Tamara would get home late, check on her kids and cook something to eat. She would wake up early for school, go to work afterwards, and then do it all over again the next day.

The monotonous and grueling schedule, just another obstacle that those born into poverty must overcome to escape it.

...