Birmingham Lawyer Indicted for Bribery in Immigrant Scheme

(Originally published on Oct. 24, 2016) BIRMINGHAM, MI — A Birmingham attorney and a Homeland Security special agent have been indicted in a scheme to allow illegal immigrants to remain in the country by falsely claiming to be informants with tips on various crimes in exchange for cash.

An indictment unsealed Thursday charges Charles Busse, 58, formerly the Warren City Council president, and Clifton Divers, 48, of Detroit, with bribery, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and obstruction of justice, according to The Daily Tribune and a news release from the Justice Department.

Divers, a special agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court, while Busse has not yet been formally charged.

The FBI alleges Busse received a $15,000 payment from an Albanian national who was about to be deported. Busse then contacted Divers on behalf of the Albanian man. Several months later, Divers sent an email to Homeland Security falsely saying the Albanian man was assisting in an official investigation.

As a result, the Albanian man’s deportation was deferred, the indictment states.

Another case in the indictment shows Busse received $6,000 from two Iraqi nationals who were about to be deported. Using the same scheme, Divers claimed the Iraqi men were able to provide information on a criminal organization in manufacturing phony identification documents.

Other cases involved Mexican and Albanian men who obtained deferrals from the two defendants for information on a criminal organization distributing controlled substances and laundering criminal proceeds.

» For more on this, go to The Daily Tribune.

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