A Detroit judge at the center of an FBI investigation teamed with two criminals to help buy and sell homes belonging to vulnerable people in the probate court system for far less than the properties' market value, according to records that shed light on a public corruption and bribery probe.

The judge, Andrea Bradley-Baskin of 36th District Court, and other targets of the FBI investigation were involved in the sale of at least five homes owned by the estates of incapacitated people, the elderly and those with mental health problems in Metro Detroit since 2020, property records show. In several instances, those homes were sold to the boyfriend of a court-appointed guardian after Bradley-Baskin proposed the sale or drafted the deeds, including a Dearborn Heights ranch that was flipped in less than a month for a 72% profit.

Property records and probate court filings reveal how the lives of vulnerable people struggling with physical and mental health problems intersected with the judge and four others under investigation by the FBI. That includes two convicted criminals: court-appointed guardian Nancy Williams, president of Guardian & Associates in Oak Park, and her boyfriend, Dwight Rashad.

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

The records are emerging seven weeks after The Detroit News obtained a sealed FBI search warrant that revealed a corruption investigation targeting the judge. The sealed filing showed FBI agents were focused on an alleged conspiracy involving bribery and wire fraud when they raided multiple locations across Metro Detroit this spring and seized more than $582,000.

The sealed search warrant obtained by The News indicates FBI agents were hunting for real estate records and documents involving Bradley-Baskin and the finances of wards. That includes senior citizens and people with developmental disabilities under the care of court-appointed guardians.

No one has been charged with wrongdoing amid the ongoing FBI investigation, which has been underway since at least mid-October and is largely focused on the years before voters elected Bradley-Baskin to the 36th District Court bench in November. There is no indication that FBI agents are focused on Bradley-Baskin's work on the bench.

Bradley-Baskin, 46, and Nancy Williams, 58, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Bradley-Baskin's lawyers, Gerald Evelyn and Robert Higbee, also did not respond to a message from The News.

Ward sales draw scrutiny

Wayne County Probate Court filings indicate Williams has sought court permission in recent years to sell at least three homes belonging to wards that she was appointed to represent. Those homes were sold to a Southfield company, Sims Residential Holdings LLC.

State business filings show the firm is owned by Rashad, Williams' boyfriend.

The judge has long ties to the couple. Bradley-Baskin was the resident agent of Sims Residential Holdings and served as Guardian & Associates' corporate lawyer before becoming a judge. That role included helping Guardian & Associates find assets belonging to wards and "identifying cases where there were assets," according to probate court records

Bradley-Baskin's tenure with Guardian & Associates as their house counsel prior to becoming a judge drew criticism as recently as last month from Freddie Burton Jr., a visiting Wayne County probate judge. The case involved an incapacitated veteran from 2022-23, and Bradley-Baskin worked for Guardian & Associates on the case.

Bradley-Baskin was paid $5,275 "for work that was excessive, redundant, and unnecessary, and further, unbeneficial to the ward," Burton wrote in an Aug. 13 opinion that amounted to a rare public rebuke of a fellow judge. "Additionally, given the ward’s very limited assets and income, these fees were unreasonable."

What the FBI seized

The sealed FBI search warrant shows agents this spring were allowed to seize records about the purchase or sale of residential and commercial property and documents regarding the "receipt or distribution of proceeds from the conspiracy."

FBI agents also were allowed to seize "records related to the care or finances of wards for which Andrea Bradley-Baskin was appointed guardian, conservator, representative payee or fiduciary" since May 9, 2016. The warrant authorized investigators to seize the same records involving her father, Oak Park lawyer Avery Bradley.

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

The firms were targeted in FBI raids in April that led to $582,000 being seized, including money from Bradley-Baskin's clients when she was in private practice, according to FBI notices obtained by The News.

One sealed search warrant that allowed FBI agents to search a home in Harper Woods in April shows investigators were focused on three crimes ― conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery ― allegedly committed since 2016. That period coincides with Bradley-Baskin's work as a lawyer in the probate court system, her tenure as general counsel for 36th District Court in Detroit and the six months since she was elected with the most votes in last fall's election.

Records shed light on deals

Property records reviewed by The News shed light on real estate deals involving multiple targets of the FBI investigation.

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

Williams was appointed to serve as the son's conservator, managing his finances and property. Avery Bradley was appointed to manage property belonging to Ethel Ciotti's estate.

Ethel Ciotti, a widow, retired from an insurance company before working at a Lincoln Park bowling alley and as a greeter at Meijer.

The 92-year-old woman died in 2018, leaving an estate worth more than $493,000. That included almost $385,000 in four bank accounts and the bungalow.

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

The home was sold for $25,000 ― far below the $63,400 market value. Property records show Bradley-Baskin drafted the quit claim deed while serving as the resident agent of Sims Residential Holdings.

Avery Bradley and his lawyer, Doraid Elder, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

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

"The court is aware of and are assisting the authorities with the investigation," Braxton wrote in an email to The News. "There are pending cases before this court and therefore the judges at the Wayne County Probate Court are unable to comment."

Relatives have concerns

Porter, Ethel Ciotti's granddaughter, said she never knew Sims Residential Holdings was owned by Williams' boyfriend. That discovery came amid longstanding concerns the granddaughter had about expenses and fees charged to Ethel and Curtis Ciotti's estates.

“I have been concerned for years. There were charges for moving her around and imaginary furniture. Let me tell you: It was ridiculous," Porter said. "There were so many discrepancies. There was all this work they said they did. They charged, like, $7,000 for furniture. What furniture? They never could answer me.

"It's sad. My grandma worked three jobs and was trying to take care of (Curtis Ciotti)," she added.

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

"I'm glad it's finally coming to light and the FBI sees it," Porter said. "Because it's wrong."

Another below-market-value sale

In May 2022, one month after the sale of Ethel Ciotti's home was approved, Andrea Bradley-Baskin asked the court to approve the sale of a 1,100-square-foot bungalow on the west side of Detroit near I-96 and West Outer Drive.

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

Bradley-Baskin served as the guardian company's lawyer before becoming a judge.

Bradley-Baskin proposed selling the home to raise money for the estate and because Dryer "can no longer reside in the home...," according to the court petition.

Bradley-Baskin asked for court approval to sell the home for $30,000, even though the bungalow's market value was $67,600.

She proposed selling the home to her client, Sims Residential Holdings. And like she did with the Ciotti property, Bradley-Baskin drafted the deed.

Wayne County Probate Court Judge Lawrence Paolucci approved the sale in June 2022. He did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Dryer, meanwhile, died in February 2024.

Three years after the sale, Sims Residential still owns the bungalow, according to property records. The home is worth an estimated $137,000, a 357% increase from the purchase price.

Legal woes hit Sims firm owner

Rashad, 69, the owner of Sims Residential Holdings, is a felon who was freed in 2010 from a life sentence in a Michigan prison for drugs and who is awaiting trial in a new drug conspiracy case in federal court in Detroit.

The case is the latest in Rashad's long history with the criminal justice system. He was sentenced to life in prison for a drug conviction in 1988 and spent more than 22 years behind bars before being resentenced and released in 2010.

He formed Sims Residential Holdings in 2021 and operates at least two adult group homes, according to state business filings and court records. A state business filing shows Bradley-Baskin, the judge, was the company's resident agent as recently as 2023.

Rashad's business was aligned with his girlfriend's work in the probate court system until Guardian & Associates shut down last year.

Williams shuttered the company after being convicted of trying to influence the 2020 general election. Investigators said Williams submitted applications for absentee ballots to nine city and township clerks on behalf of 26 legally incapacitated people under her care and had the ballots mailed directly to her.

The criminal charges led to Williams being suspended from managing or being involved in Wayne County probate cases. While suspended, her duties were handled by Avery Bradley before the company was shuttered in 2024, according to a court order.

Three of the incapacitated people who were originally part of the criminal case against Williams lived at a group home Rashad owns in Southfield, Oakland County court records show.

The address is linked to Rashad's company, Empowerment Homes. FBI records show agents seized $24,933 from Empowerment Homes in April.

Lien slapped on group home

A fourth person, 91-year-old Mary Spinney, lives at a group home two blocks away in Southfield owned by Rashad's other company, Sims Residential Holdings, Oakland County Probate Court records show.

In May, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit placed a lien on the ranch-style home, saying it could be forfeited to the government as proceeds of several crimes, including bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud.

Spinney, the ward living in Rashad's group home, has big bank accounts and big health problems.

Williams and Guardian & Associates had been her court-appointed guardian since early 2023 after Spinney was found at home suffering from "mental deficiency," according to Oakland County Probate Court records.

Spinney's home was a bungalow along Catalpa Drive in Berkley, west of Woodward and two blocks from the Vinsetta Garage restaurant.

In 2023, the bungalow was worth $309,940 and was one of Spinney's most valuable assets. In all, the estate was worth $1.12 million.

After Williams shuttered her guardianship company last year, Tri-State Guardian Services was appointed as the new guardian of Mary Spinney in March 2024.

Tri-State was incorporated last year by Clinton Township resident Kijuana Evans, who formerly handled case management for Guardian & Associates. In July 2024, four months after taking over the case, Evans asked a Wayne County probate judge for permission to sell Spinney's home.

Liquidating the home would raise money to pay for Spinney's care, according to the petition.

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

Oakland County Probate Judge Jennifer Callaghan approved the sale in August 2024. She did not respond to a message seeking comment or a list of questions.

Guardian firm owner's home raided

Agents raided the Tri-State Guardian Services owner's home in April and seized $335,747 from the company's bank account, along with $45,112 from a related firm.

Evans defended herself during an earlier interview with The News.

"I haven't done anything," Evans said. She did not respond to messages seeking comment in the past week.

Evans was not the only person raided in April.

Investigators also executed search warrants at bank accounts belonging to Guardian & Associates and at Williams's home near the Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, according to an FBI notice. When FBI agents arrived at the brick bungalow, they found Rashad.

They seized $7,300 from Rashad and $44,875 from his business accounts ― including Sims Residential Holdings, according to an FBI notice.

The seizures marked a reversal of fortune for Rashad.

Four years ago, Guardian & Associates petitioned Wayne County Probate Court for permission to sell another home 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 individual. The home's market value was $164,800.

In January 2021, however, Wayne County Probate Judge Lawrence Paolucci approved letting Guardian & Associates owner Nancy Williams sell the home to her boyfriend's company for just $112,000.

Paolucci did not respond to a message seeking comment.

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

Rashad did not own the home for long.

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

Rashad and his lawyer did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Back in 2004, during a court appearance related to his 1988 drug case, Rashad acknowledged the difficulty in changing habits.

“I would like to say, your honor, that there’s an African proverb that says ‘Habits is like a full-grown mountain; hard to get over or pull down,’” Rashad told Wayne Circuit Judge Vera Massey Jones, according to a transcript. “I take full responsibility for my past, present and future actions. ... I am definitely better than I used to be.”

Basic rule of law

Probate court judges have drawn scrutiny in recent years about how they handled the sale of assets belonging to wards of the court.

In 2019, the Michigan Attorney General's Office investigated a Macomb County probate judge, Kathryn George, amid allegations she improperly appointed a guardian firm to handle the care of an elderly couple. The investigation led to a confidential settlement, and George retired in 2022.

In 2007, The News reported that George wasn't following court rules that compel judges to appoint guardians and conservators from a list of approved agencies on a rotating basis. An audit found that a Shelby Township firm, ADDMS Guardianship Services, charged exorbitant fees and made questionable sales of property owned by people under the firm's care.

"The current examination revealed several cases where the ward's property was sold for significantly less than two times the state equalized value, where no appraisals were provided or ordered," along with "multiple problems in accounting for assets," the audit said.

Legal experts said it goes against best practices for a guardian in a position of trust to sell a home without soliciting appraisals, evaluating comparable sales in the area and determining the highest and best offer.

Guardians, under the law, should be maximizing gains for their wards, said Julia Belian, an associate law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

“The people they represent aren’t able to detect or object to what’s going on,” she told The News.

The basic rule of law for fiduciaries like Williams and other court-appointed guardians, Belian said, is "no self-dealing."

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