Ex-Detroit treasurer gets 11 years in prison for corruption

DETROIT (AP) — The city of Detroit’s former treasurer has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in a case related to years of pay-to-play corruption under then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Jeff Beasley, who was Kilpatrick’s college fraternity brother, apologized Monday but says he didn’t extort anyone while serving as a trustee at Detroit’s pension funds.

He was convicted in December, along with two other officials in a scheme to take cash in exchange for approving certain pension fund investments.

Beasley was convicted of extortion and bribery. His sentence is the third-longest in the government’s investigation of city hall corruption. Kilpatrick is serving a 28-year prison sentence, and contractor Bobby Ferguson is serving a 21-year term.

Nearly 40 people have been convicted. Kilpatrick quit office in 2008 in a different scandal.