Fresh Loaf

A lawsuit against Kai Franklin Graham, who was supposed to go on trial Monday in federal bankruptcy court, has been settled, according to documents filed today in federal bankruptcy court.

Free At Last Bail Bonds had sued Graham in late 2005 to recover $185,000 the company lost after her then-husband, major cocaine trafficker Tremayne “Kiki” Graham, cut his ankle monitor and went on the run. Kai Franklin Graham, the daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, had filed for bankruptcy in early 2005 to avoid having to repay the bond.

According to court documents, Free At Last settled for a fraction of what it sought — just $6,000.

As of last month, it had appeared all but certain that the case would go to trial. “We’ve talked about [a settlement] many times,” Cameron McCord, an attorney for Free At Last Bail Bonds, said during an October hearing. “I just think we’re too far apart.”

Free At Last had claimed Graham misled authorities about her financial situation and her knowledge of her then-husband’s whereabouts, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to receive bankruptcy protection.

Bookmark It

UPDATE: Case settled.

A lawsuit against Kai Franklin Graham, who was supposed to go on trial yesterday in federal bankruptcy court, might have been resolved.

Free At Last Bail Bonds sued Graham in 2005 to recover $185,000 the company lost after her then-husband, major cocaine trafficker Tremayne “Kiki” Graham, cut his ankle monitor and went on the run. Kai Franklin Graham, the daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, filed for bankruptcy to avoid having to repay his bond.

In court documents, Free At Last has claimed Graham misled authorities about her financial situation and her knowledge of her then-husband’s whereabouts, and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to receive bankruptcy protection.

The most recent hearing and filings in the lawsuit indicated that the case couldn’t be resolved.

“We’ve talked about [a settlement] many times,” Cameron McCord, an attorney for Free At Last Bail Bonds, said during a hearing last month. “I just think we’re too far apart.”

But considering that the trial didn’t start as scheduled — and that no new date has been set — it’s likely that Free At Last and Graham reached some sort of agreement.

“The only other possibility is that the matter was settled,” says bankruptcy attorney Howard Rothbloom, who is not involved in the case. He adds that if the lawsuit did in fact settle, it might take several days for the settlement to show up in the court file. “Ultimately, there has to be something on the docket.”

Attorneys for Graham and Free At Last did not return phone calls.

Bookmark It

UPDATE: Case settled.

Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughter Kai Franklin Graham, who is being sued in federal bankruptcy court by the bonding company that bailed out her then-husband in 2004, was supposed to go on trial this morning. But when I showed up at the courtroom, it was empty and dark.

A call to the judge’s chambers didn’t help. The assistant who answered the phone said she couldn’t give me any information, other than, “There is no court today.” Kinda weird, huh?

(more…)

Bookmark It

UPDATE: Case settled.

When Kai Franklin Graham, daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, goes on trial next month on civil charges, the case could shed light on allegations that a recent criminal investigation only hinted at.

The plaintiff, Free At Last Bail Bonds, is suing Graham in an attempt to hold her accountable for $185,000 she owes the company after her then-husband jumped bond and became a fugitive. Kai Franklin Graham filed for bankruptcy in 2005 in an attempt to avoid paying the bond.

The reason she shouldn’t be allowed to use the federal bankruptcy statute to free herself from the debt? According to Free At Last, Graham deceived both the bondsman and the bankruptcy court about her financial situation and the whereabouts of Tremayne “Kiki” Graham, whom she divorced the year after he went on the lam.

Documents filed in the case allege that Kai Franklin Graham “blatantly lied under oath” and tried to hide contentious sources of income.

In court documents, Graham’s attorney, James Dearing, denied Free At Last’s allegations. Dearing didn’t return CL’s phone calls seeking comment.

Continue reading here

Bookmark It

Mayor Shirley Franklin responded late Tuesday night with the following comment to Mara Shalhoup’s Fresh Loaf post on the sentencing hearing for Franklin’s daughter, Kai Franklin Graham:

“Check the facts. She plead[ed] guilty to structuring which is clearly defined in the federal code. Her plea had absolutely nothing to do with any other criminal act. ANY OTHER representation by you or anyone else is FALSE. I’ve come to expect unfair, illogical and inaccurate reporting from CL. Mara, [former CL Senior Editor John Sugg] and CL have slandered me and my daughter in headlines and articles and misrepresented the facts for years to sell papers. It’s call[ed] tabloid and yellow journalism.”

Shalhoup also received a statement from Kai Franklin Graham on Tuesday night:

“On Monday, March 17, 2008 in federal court I was sentenced for structuring $14,000 in mortgage payments. Any other representation by anyone about me in this case is false and contrary to the truth.

“As proud as I am of my mother, Shirley Franklin, I believe the intense media attention has been directed to her and not me. The reporting, coverage and headlines have been sensationalized and inaccurate every step of the way in this case. The media coverage of my sentencing yesterday is no exception.

“As I stated in court, I am ready to move on with my life. By God’s grace I will be able to do so.”

We’re, of course, concerned that the mayor has accused us of “slandering” her and her daughter. The facts we reported are the same facts Mayor Franklin points to in her comment: Kai Franklin Graham pleaded guilty to making “structured financial payments” to avoid federal detection.

But to argue, as the mayor does, that her daughter’s “plea had absolutely nothing to do with any other criminal act” ignores the context of the plea. According to prosecutors, at least some of that money came from the cocaine smuggling operation run by Franklin Graham’s then-husband, Tremayne Graham. The mayor’s daughter converted that money into postal money orders in a way to avoid detection by federal officials, and she was in contact with her husband after he had jumped bail and was a fugitive, according to court documents.

Tremayne Graham has since been captured and sentenced to life in prison. He and Kai are now divorced. As part of her plea agreement, Franklin Graham agreed to cooperate with investigators involved in an ongoing probe of criminal activities associated with her ex-husband’s case.

I e-mailed the mayor and asked her to provide specific examples of when our coverage was inaccurate or unfair. She gave her permission to print her e-mailed response: (more…)

Bookmark It

GREENVILLE — Kai Franklin Graham apologized to her mother, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, during a brief sentencing hearing in Greenville federal court today, according to assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore.

Moore says the mayor sat in the courtroom during the proceedings — the same courtroom where, a year earlier, her ex-son-in-law was sentenced to life in federal prison on cocaine charges.

Franklin Graham received a sentence of three years probation for making “structured financial payments.” In 2004, Franklin Graham received $14,000 cash from her then-husband — and federal fugitive — Tremayne Graham, a cocaine trafficker who was linked to the Black Mafia Family. She then converted the cash into postal money orders less than $2,000 each in an attempt to evade federal reporting requirements. (Any amount more than $2,000 must be reported to the feds). The money was used in part to pay the mortgage on the couple’s $630,000 Marietta home.

Franklin Graham pleaded guilty to the federal charge in December, and she agreed to cooperate with the government in other investigations. During the April 2007 sentencing of Tremayne Graham, whom Franklin Graham divorced in 2005, Moore said he was interested in what she might know about Graham’s alleged role in the 2004 murder of his co-defendant, Ulysses Hackett, and Hackett’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Misty Carter.

“She might have very critical information about where he was and what he did on the night that Ulysses Hackett was killed,” Moore said.

No one has been arrested in the killings, though Graham has been named a suspect.

Franklin Graham was cited as a potential witness in the trial of one of Graham’s drug associates, Ernest Watkins. However, the trial was cut short last week, when Watkins pleaded guilty on the second day of testimony.

Editor’s Note: This blog post has been updated to clarify that Kai Franklin Graham converted the cash into postal money orders to evade federal reporting requirements.

Bookmark It

GREENVILLE — A drug associate of Mayor Shirley Franklin’s ex-son-in-law pleaded guilty to federal charges today, bringing an abrupt end to his trial on cocaine trafficking.

As part of his plea deal, Ernest Watkins agreed to cooperate with federal authorities “about all criminal activities [of] which he has knowledge.”

Watkins has been identified in federal documents and in open court as the person who supplied Kai Franklin Graham’s then-husband, Tremayne Graham, with a gun that was later used to kill Graham’s co-defendant, Ulysses Hackett, and Hackett’s girlfriend, Misty Carter. No arrests have been made in the 2004 double-murder of Hackett and Carter, who were killed as they lay in bed inside Carter’s Highland Avenue townhouse.

Like Watkins, Kai Franklin Graham — the mayor’s daughter — also signed a cooperation agreement when she pleaded guilty in December 2007 to minor charges related to her ex-husband’s crime ring.

Franklin Graham is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in federal court in Greenville on charges that she made structured financial payments to avoid federal detection. She, Graham, Watkins and more than a dozen other defendants linked to Graham have had cases brought in South Carolina, where Graham’s drug ring delivered multi-kilo shipments of cocaine from Atlanta.
(more…)

Bookmark It

Kai Franklin Graham, 35, daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, pleaded guilty this morning in South Carolina to a federal charge of “structuring financial transactions” to avoid detection.

The charges stem from an investigation of Franklin’s former husband, Tremayne Graham, who pleaded guilty for his leadership role in a cocaine operation affiliated with the Black Mafia Family. Graham received a life sentence, and has been identified as a suspect in the murder of co-defendant Ulysses Hackett and Hackett’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Spelman graduate Misty Carter, in 2004. They were gunned down while sleeping in Carter’s Highland Avenue townhome.

Kai Graham agreed to cooperate fully with the federal investigation, and she must pass a polygraph. If she complies fully, she will spend three months in home confinement and three years on probation.

Mayor Franklin arrived at the federal courthouse in Greenville, S.C., with her daughter, and was in the courtroom during the hearing. She declined to comment after the hearing.

Court records identify Tremayne Graham as a “major drug dealer” with close ties to multistate cocaine empire the Black Mafia Family and related drug ring the Sin City Mafia. Graham, along with 12 other defendants, is accused of moving at least 500 kilograms of cocaine from California to Atlanta, where most of the defendants lived. The cocaine was then allegedly delivered to Greenville. When Graham disappeared in late October 2004, he was out on bond under the condition that he be confined to the $630,000 Marietta home he shared with his wife. But after he cut his ankle monitor and fled, Kai Franklin Graham divorced her husband, who turned up in California a month after the divorce was final.

CL’s Mara Shalhoup will have a full report of the hearing later this afternoon.

Bookmark It

Documents filed Tuesday in Greenville, S.C., federal court describe how Ernest Watkins, an Atlanta man under investigation for his possible link to multistate cocaine enterprise the Black Mafia Family, allegedly lied about his involvement with convicted drug dealer Tremayne Graham and his ex-wife Kai Franklin — who is Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughter.

Watkins was indicted last month on charges of cocaine conspiracy and perjury, the latter stemming from false statements he allegedly made while speaking with investigators and before a grand jury. A partial transcript of a 2006 grand jury hearing describes a prosecutor asking Watkins about his relationship with Graham. Watkins described Graham as a mere “acquaintance.”

“Did you ever deliver cash to Tremayne Graham or Kai Graham?” the prosecutor later asked.

“No,” Watkins answered.

Court documents do not indicate if any charges were filed as a result of the grand jury proceedings. At the time the grand jury met, Tremayne Graham already had pleaded guilty to federal cocaine charges filed against him in early 2004.

(more…)

Bookmark It

At a bond hearing today in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, a federal prosecutor described an alleged drug runner named Ernest Watkins as the man who gave the mayor’s former son-in-law the murder weapon used to kill a potential witness.

That witness, according to assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Phillips, was considering testifying against their drug organization.

Watkins was described as a close drug associate of Tremayne Graham, who was married to Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughter when he was indicted in 2004 on federal drug charges — and later jumped bond. Graham went on the run less than two months after his co-defendant, Ulysses Hackett, was gunned down along with his girlfriend inside her Highland Avenue condo.

It also was alleged at the hearing that Watkins was tied to the multi-state drug ring the Black Mafia Family; that he had access to a private jet and helped move cash and shipments of 150-plus kilos of cocaine between Atlanta and L.A.; and that he assisted in Graham’s flight from Georgia after Graham became a fugitive in 2004.

According to Phillips, Watkins rented a car for Graham after he fled, then drove him to Tennessee. From there, Graham drove himself to Texas and flew to California, where he was arrested seven months later, in June 2005. In April 2007, Graham was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the drug ring.

(more…)

Bookmark It

I think the ATL cops must have some serious problems down there. They needn’t bust in on innocent old grandmas. Just go over to the Mayor’s house……

– Aging Hipster remarks on the front-page story in today’s AJC about a federal investigation of whether Mayor Shirley Franklin’s daughter, Kai Franklin, laundered money for her convicted drug dealer ex-husband, Tremayne Graham.

Two weeks ago, CL’s Mara Shalhoup wrote about the investigation in her cover story about Graham. I would have said “wrote about it brilliantly,” but I’d hate to be accused of bias.

—–

Bush’s re-election has been one of the worst things to happen to this country since Jimmy Carter was in office.

– Jason Pye at JasonPye.com. Pye’s hackles were raised by Bush’s support of a bill that would increase the minimum wage.

I met Jason at the Peach Pundit happy hour last Friday. I didn’t see any hackles.

—–

The AGMC exploits the desires of some of Atlanta’s gay men to get in a group and sing. Of course, it is also a means of hooking up with new partners and a great networking tool for them. They must pay excessive quarterly dues that almost completely supports the group and keeps them singing.

– The person who writes the blog Atlanta Classical Music thinks the Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus is a rip-off.

Bookmark It

The Daily of Drastically Decreasing Circulation reported today about convicted drug kingpin Tremayne Graham, also under investigation for a double murder. Graham also, not so incidentally, is the former son-in-law of Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Of course, savvy Atlantans already know the score — they’ve read CL Senior Writer Mara Shalhoup’s award-winning stories on Graham and the Black Mafia Family.

Mayor Franklin remains consistent and determined not to comment on Graham.

Bookmark It

Contrary to testimony offered during an April federal court hearing during which the mayor’s former son-in-law was sentenced to life in prison, Mayor Shirley Franklin did not help get her daughter’s then-husband out of jail when he was bonded out in 2004, according to an assistant U.S. attorney.

Tremayne Graham jumped bond in the fall of 2004 on cocaine-trafficking and money-laundering charges, and he was a fugitive for seven months. While Graham was out on bond, his co-defendant, Ulysses Hackett, and Hackett’s girlfriend, Misty Carter, were gunned down in Carter’s bed. Testimony and court records allege that Graham ordered Hackett’s death because he feared Hackett would cooperate in the federal investigation against him.

At the time of the April 2004 bonding hearing, however, prosecutors in Greenville, S.C., where Graham’s enterprise had been shipping drugs from Atlanta, “didn’t have a lot of evidence against Tremayne,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Moore says. What’s more, Graham had little in the way of a criminal history at the time: a 1997 counterfeiting charge.

“Given who he was, we had no reason to believe he would flee,” Moore says, pointing out that his office didn’t push for Graham to be detained. “And there is no evidence that the mayor did or had anything to do with that bond.”

(more…)

Bookmark It