Judge under FBI investigation helped criminals sell homes of vulnerable people

By Robert Snell

MediaNews Group

A Detroit choose on the heart of an FBI investigation teamed with two criminals to assist purchase and promote houses belonging to weak individuals within the probate courtroom system for a lot lower than the properties’ market worth, based on information that make clear a public corruption and bribery probe.

The choose, Andrea Bradley-Baskin of thirty sixth District Courtroom, and different targets of the FBI investigation have been concerned within the sale of not less than 5 houses owned by the estates of incapacitated individuals, the aged and people with psychological well being issues in Metro Detroit since 2020, property information present. In a number of cases, these houses have been offered to the boyfriend of a court-appointed guardian after Bradley-Baskin proposed the sale or drafted the deeds, together with a Dearborn Heights ranch that was flipped in lower than a month for a 72% revenue.

Property information and probate courtroom filings reveal how the lives of weak individuals battling bodily and psychological well being issues intersected with the choose and 4 others beneath investigation by the FBI. That features two convicted criminals: court-appointed guardian Nancy Williams, president of Guardian & Associates in Oak Park, and her boyfriend, Dwight Rashad.

“It’s so incorrect. I hope they get what they deserve,” mentioned Michelle Porter, whose grandmother, the late Ethel Ciotti, owned a Lincoln Park dwelling that was offered in a transaction involving the judge, Williams and others being investigated by the FBI.

The information are rising seven weeks after The Detroit News obtained a sealed FBI search warrant that revealed a corruption investigation focusing on the choose. The sealed submitting confirmed FBI brokers have been centered on an alleged conspiracy involving bribery and wire fraud once they raided a number of areas throughout Metro Detroit this spring and seized greater than $582,000.

The sealed search warrant obtained by The Information signifies FBI brokers have been hunting for real estate records and paperwork involving Bradley-Baskin and the finances of wards. That features senior residents and other people with developmental disabilities beneath the care of court-appointed guardians.

Nobody has been charged with wrongdoing amid the continuing FBI investigation, which has been underway since not less than mid-October and is essentially centered on the years earlier than voters elected Bradley-Baskin to the thirty sixth District Courtroom bench in November. There is no such thing as a indication that FBI brokers are centered on Bradley-Baskin’s work on the bench.

Bradley-Baskin, 46, and Nancy Williams, 58, didn’t reply to messages looking for remark. Bradley-Baskin’s legal professionals, Gerald Evelyn and Robert Higbee, additionally didn’t reply to a message from The Information.

Ward gross sales draw scrutiny

Wayne County Probate Courtroom filings point out Williams has sought courtroom permission in recent times to promote not less than three houses belonging to wards that she was appointed to characterize. These houses have been offered to a Southfield firm, Sims Residential Holdings LLC.

State enterprise filings show the agency is owned by Rashad, Williams’ boyfriend.

The choose has lengthy ties to the couple. Bradley-Baskin was the resident agent of Sims Residential Holdings and served as Guardian & Associates’ company lawyer earlier than turning into a choose. That function included serving to Guardian & Associates discover property belonging to wards and “identifying cases where there were assets,” based on probate courtroom information

Bradley-Baskin’s tenure with Guardian & Associates as their home counsel previous to turning into a choose drew criticism as just lately as final month from Freddie Burton Jr., a visiting Wayne County probate choose. The case concerned an incapacitated veteran from 2022-23, and Bradley-Baskin labored for Guardian & Associates on the case.

Bradley-Baskin was paid $5,275 “for work that was extreme, redundant, and pointless, and additional, unbeneficial to the ward,” Burton wrote in an Aug. 13 opinion that amounted to a rare public rebuke of a fellow choose. “Moreover, given the ward’s very restricted property and revenue, these charges have been unreasonable.”

What the FBI seized

The sealed FBI search warrant exhibits brokers this spring have been allowed to grab information concerning the buy or sale of residential and industrial property and paperwork relating to the “receipt or distribution of proceeds from the conspiracy.”

FBI brokers additionally have been allowed to grab “information associated to the care or funds of wards for which Andrea Bradley-Baskin was appointed guardian, conservator, consultant payee or fiduciary” since Could 9, 2016. The warrant licensed investigators to grab the identical information involving her father, Oak Park lawyer Avery Bradley.

Different targets of the FBI searches included Nancy Williams, Guardian & Associates, her boyfriend, Sims Residential Holdings and a second guardianship agency, Tri-State Guardian Companies.

The corporations have been focused in FBI raids in April that led to $582,000 being seized, together with cash from Bradley-Baskin’s purchasers when she was in non-public follow, based on FBI notices obtained by The Information.

One sealed search warrant that allowed FBI brokers to go looking a house in Harper Woods in April exhibits investigators have been centered on three crimes ― conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery ― allegedly dedicated since 2016. That interval coincides with Bradley-Baskin’s work as a lawyer within the probate courtroom system, her tenure as common counsel for thirty sixth District Courtroom in Detroit and the six months since she was elected with essentially the most votes in final fall’s election.

Information make clear offers

Property information reviewed by The Information make clear actual property offers involving a number of targets of the FBI investigation.

Andrea Bradley-Baskin, her father and Williams are linked to the sale of a 996-square-foot bungalow close to Southfield Highway and Interstate-75 in Lincoln Park in 2022. The house was owned by Ciotti and her son, Curtis Ciotti.

Williams was appointed to function the son’s conservator, managing his funds and property. Avery Bradley was appointed to manage property belonging to Ethel Ciotti’s property.

Ethel Ciotti, a widow, retired from an insurance coverage firm earlier than working at a Lincoln Park bowling alley and as a greeter at Meijer.

The 92-year-old girl died in 2018, leaving an property price more than $493,000. That included virtually $385,000 in 4 financial institution accounts and the bungalow.

The bungalow was offered to Sims Residential Holdings in July 2022. Court records show Avery Bradley petitioned Chief Wayne County Probate Decide David Braxton to approve the sale.

The house was offered for $25,000 ― far below the $63,400 market value. Property information present Bradley-Baskin drafted the quit claim deed whereas serving because the resident agent of Sims Residential Holdings.

Avery Bradley and his lawyer, Doraid Elder, didn’t reply to messages looking for remark.

Braxton, who approved the transaction in April 2022, declined to remark.

“The courtroom is conscious of and are helping the authorities with the investigation,” Braxton wrote in an e mail to The Information. “There are pending instances earlier than this courtroom and due to this fact the judges on the Wayne County Probate Courtroom are unable to remark.”

Family have issues

Porter, Ethel Ciotti’s granddaughter, mentioned she by no means knew Sims Residential Holdings was owned by Williams’ boyfriend. That discovery got here amid longstanding issues the granddaughter had about bills and costs charged to Ethel and Curtis Ciotti’s estates.

“I’ve been involved for years. There have been prices for shifting her round and imaginary furnishings. Let me let you know: It was ridiculous,” Porter mentioned. “There have been so many discrepancies. There was all this work they mentioned they did. They charged, like, $7,000 for furnishings. What furnishings? They by no means might reply me.

“It’s unhappy. My grandma labored three jobs and was attempting to deal with (Curtis Ciotti),” she added.

Porter has not talked to investigators however welcomed the FBI investigation.

“I’m glad it’s lastly coming to mild and the FBI sees it,” Porter mentioned. “As a result of it’s incorrect.”

One other below-market-value sale

In Could 2022, one month after the sale of Ethel Ciotti’s dwelling was approved, Andrea Bradley-Baskin asked the courtroom to approve the sale of a 1,100-square-foot bungalow on the west aspect of Detroit close to I-96 and West Outer Drive.

The house was owned by the property of James Dryer, who on the time was a 73-year-old suffering from dementia and dwelling at a Macomb County nursing dwelling. His conservator was Guardian & Associates.

Bradley-Baskin served because the guardian firm’s lawyer earlier than turning into a choose.

Bradley-Baskin proposed promoting the house to lift cash for the property and since Dryer “can now not reside within the dwelling…,” based on the courtroom petition.

Bradley-Baskin requested for courtroom approval to promote the house for $30,000, regardless that the bungalow’s market value was $67,600.

She proposed promoting the house to her consumer, Sims Residential Holdings. And like she did with the Ciotti property, Bradley-Baskin drafted the deed.

Wayne County Probate Courtroom Decide Lawrence Paolucci approved the sale in June 2022. He didn’t reply to a message looking for remark.

Dryer, in the meantime, died in February 2024.

Three years after the sale, Sims Residential still owns the bungalow, based on property information. The house is price an estimated $137,000, a 357% improve from the acquisition worth.

Authorized woes hit Sims agency proprietor

Rashad, 69, the proprietor of Sims Residential Holdings, is a felon who was freed in 2010 from a life sentence in a Michigan jail for medication and who’s awaiting trial in a new drug conspiracy case in federal courtroom in Detroit.

The case is the newest in Rashad’s lengthy historical past with the felony justice system. He was sentenced to life in jail for a drug conviction in 1988 and spent greater than 22 years behind bars earlier than being resentenced and launched in 2010.

He fashioned Sims Residential Holdings in 2021 and operates not less than two grownup group houses, based on state enterprise filings and courtroom information. A state enterprise submitting exhibits Bradley-Baskin, the choose, was the company’s resident agent as just lately as 2023.

Rashad’s enterprise was aligned together with his girlfriend’s work within the probate courtroom system till Guardian & Associates shut down final yr.

Williams shuttered the corporate after being convicted of trying to influence the 2020 general election. Investigators mentioned Williams submitted purposes for absentee ballots to 9 metropolis and township clerks on behalf of 26 legally incapacitated individuals beneath her care and had the ballots mailed on to her.

The felony prices led to Williams being suspended from managing or being concerned in Wayne County probate instances. Whereas suspended, her duties have been dealt with by Avery Bradley earlier than the corporate was shuttered in 2024, based on a court order.

Three of the incapacitated individuals who have been initially a part of the felony case in opposition to Williams lived at a gaggle dwelling Rashad owns in Southfield, Oakland County courtroom information present.

The deal with is linked to Rashad’s firm, Empowerment Houses. FBI information present brokers seized $24,933 from Empowerment Houses in April.

Lien slapped on group dwelling

A fourth individual, 91-year-old Mary Spinney, lives at a gaggle dwelling two blocks away in Southfield owned by Rashad’s different firm, Sims Residential Holdings, Oakland County Probate Court records show.

In Could, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Detroit positioned a lien on the ranch-style dwelling, saying it may very well be forfeited to the federal government as proceeds of a number of crimes, together with bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud.

Spinney, the ward dwelling in Rashad’s group dwelling, has large financial institution accounts and massive well being issues.

Williams and Guardian & Associates had been her court-appointed guardian since early 2023 after Spinney was discovered at dwelling affected by “psychological deficiency,” based on Oakland County Probate Courtroom information.

Spinney’s dwelling was a bungalow alongside Catalpa Drive in Berkley, west of Woodward and two blocks from the Vinsetta Storage restaurant.

In 2023, the bungalow was price $309,940 and was one in all Spinney’s Most worthy property. In all, the property was price $1.12 million.

After Williams shuttered her guardianship firm final yr, Tri-State Guardian Companies was appointed as the brand new guardian of Mary Spinney in March 2024.

Tri-State was included final yr by Clinton Township resident Kijuana Evans, who previously dealt with case administration for Guardian & Associates. In July 2024, 4 months after taking up the case, Evans requested a Wayne County probate choose for permission to promote Spinney’s dwelling.

Liquidating the house would increase cash to pay for Spinney’s care, based on the petition.

Evans proposed promoting the house for $204,500 in July 2024 despite the market value of the bungalow being $327,080.

Oakland County Probate Decide Jennifer Callaghan accepted the sale in August 2024. She didn’t reply to a message looking for remark or an inventory of questions.

Guardian agency proprietor’s dwelling raided

Brokers raided the Tri-State Guardian Companies proprietor’s dwelling in April and seized $335,747 from the corporate’s checking account, together with $45,112 from a associated agency.

Evans defended herself throughout an earlier interview with The Information.

“I haven’t carried out something,” Evans mentioned. She didn’t reply to messages looking for remark up to now week.

Evans was not the one individual raided in April.

Investigators additionally executed search warrants at financial institution accounts belonging to Guardian & Associates and at Williams’s dwelling close to the Detroit Golf Membership in Detroit, based on an FBI discover. When FBI brokers arrived on the brick bungalow, they discovered Rashad.

They seized $7,300 from Rashad and $44,875 from his enterprise accounts ― together with Sims Residential Holdings, based on an FBI discover.

The seizures marked a reversal of fortune for Rashad.

4 years in the past, Guardian & Associates petitioned Wayne County Probate Courtroom for permission to promote one other dwelling to Sims Residential Holdings.

This time, it was a 1,178-square-foot brick ranch in Dearborn Heights owned by Mary Ann Jackson, a protected particular person. The house’s market value was $164,800.

In January 2021, nevertheless, Wayne County Probate Decide Lawrence Paolucci accepted letting Guardian & Associates proprietor Nancy Williams promote the house to her boyfriend’s firm for just $112,000.

Paolucci didn’t reply to a message looking for remark.

The lawyer named on the petition is Avery Bradley. The lawyer who drafted the deed is his daughter, Andrea Bradley-Baskin.

Rashad didn’t personal the house for lengthy.

He flipped the house 24 days later for $193,000, Wayne County property information show.

Rashad and his lawyer didn’t reply to messages looking for remark.

Again in 2004, throughout a courtroom look associated to his 1988 drug case, Rashad acknowledged the issue in altering habits.

“I wish to say, your honor, that there’s an African proverb that claims ‘Habits is sort of a full-grown mountain; arduous to recover from or pull down,’” Rashad instructed Wayne Circuit Decide Vera Massey Jones, according to a transcript. “I take full accountability for my previous, current and future actions. … I’m positively higher than I was.”

Primary rule of legislation

Probate courtroom judges have drawn scrutiny in recent times about how they dealt with the sale of property belonging to wards of the courtroom.

In 2019, the Michigan Legal professional Normal’s Workplace investigated a Macomb County probate choose, Kathryn George, amid allegations she improperly appointed a guardian agency to deal with the care of an aged couple. The investigation led to a confidential settlement, and George retired in 2022.

In 2007, The Information reported that George wasn’t following courtroom guidelines that compel judges to nominate guardians and conservators from an inventory of accepted companies on a rotating foundation. An audit discovered {that a} Shelby Township agency, ADDMS Guardianship Companies, charged exorbitant charges and made questionable gross sales of property owned by individuals beneath the agency’s care.

“The present examination revealed a number of instances the place the ward’s property was offered for considerably lower than two occasions the state equalized worth, the place no value determinations have been supplied or ordered,” together with “a number of issues in accounting for property,” the audit mentioned.

Authorized specialists mentioned it goes in opposition to greatest practices for a guardian able of belief to promote a house with out soliciting value determinations, evaluating comparable gross sales within the space and figuring out the very best and greatest provide.

Guardians, beneath the legislation, ought to be maximizing good points for his or her wards, mentioned Julia Belian, an affiliate legislation professor on the College of Detroit Mercy College of Legislation.

“The individuals they characterize aren’t capable of detect or object to what’s happening,” she instructed The Information.

The fundamental rule of legislation for fiduciaries like Williams and different court-appointed guardians, Belian mentioned, is “no self-dealing.”

Initially Revealed: September 4, 2025 at 7:55 AM EDT