DETROIT — Federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal case Friday against a Detroit judge, her father and two other targets of an FBI investigation focused on wrongdoing within Metro Detroit’s probate court system, a probe first uncovered by The Detroit News last year.

The fraud, conspiracy and money laundering indictment represents a rare federal public corruption prosecution in Metro Detroit made more unique because it involves a judge, 36th District Judge Andrea-Bradley-Baskin, who was elected to a six-year term as the top vote-getter in November 2024. What voters did not know was FBI agents were investigating the judge and several others amid questions about the well-being and finances of vulnerable people in the probate system, including senior citizens and people with developmental disabilities.

Besides Bradley-Baskin, 33, of Detroit, the three other people charged are: the judge's father, lawyer Avery Bradley, 72, of Detroit; probate guardian Nancy Juanita Williams, 59, of Detroit; and Williams' boyfriend, Southfield businessman Dwight Rashad, 70.

The judge was charged with three crimes and faces up to 20 years or more in federal prison, if convicted. Those crimes are: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of money laundering and lying to the FBI.

"The judge is presumed innocent and the allegations are just that, but to the extent there’s truth to them you worry about the optics of this and people’s view of the fairness of the legal system," said prominent Birmingham criminal defense lawyer Wade Fink.

"Generally, people already are skeptical of the fairness of the system. When they see stuff like this, and headlines like this,” Fink added, “it doesn’t help.”

The indictment alleges a wire fraud conspiracy that ran from January 2017 to July 2024 — a timespan that predates Bradley-Baskin's tenure as a judge. The case portrays her as conspiring with others to enrich herself by embezzling money and using false pretenses to keep money and property belonging to multiple incapacitated wards of the probate system.

Her father and Williams, meanwhile, are accused of writing and obtaining unauthorized checks from wards’ accounts and depositing the money into bank accounts belonging to the judge and others.

Prosecutors unsealed the case almost five months after an investigation by The News revealed Bradley-Baskin and other targets were involved in the sale of at least five homes belonging to vulnerable people in the probate system, including some sold for far less than the properties' market value.

The FBI was investigating two others who have not been charged with wrongdoing: Clinton Township resident Kijuana Evans, owner of Tri-State Guardian Services; and probate court contractor Lonnie Griffin.

Federal corruption cases in Metro Detroit have slowed in recent years following a prolonged crackdown on wrongdoing that led to convictions and prison sentences for more than 130 public officials of almost every stripe. That included a state senator, a House Speaker, Detroit and suburban mayors, cops and councilmen, township officials, two UAW presidents and school leaders — but never a judge.

The FBI investigation started at least in fall 2024, according to a sealed search warrant obtained by The News, with agents focused on conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery committed since 2016. That period of time 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 Bradley-Baskin was elected judge.

Prosecutors telegraphed the new criminal case in late-December when Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Morris wrote in a court filing that prosecutors expect to file an indictment by mid-April, but did not identify who was likely to be charged with a crime.

In September, The News reported that several homes belonging to wards were sold to Williams' boyfriend 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.

And in late January, The News revealed investigators were tracing the disappearance of $550,000 belonging to a 91-year-old woman from Berkley, whose home was sold by her court-appointed guardian and bank accounts drained after she became unable to manage her medical or financial affairs.

Wayne County Probate Court filings indicate Williams, meanwhile, 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. Rashad 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.

Williams, 59, and her boyfriend have long ties to the judge. 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.

A sealed FBI search warrant obtained by The News shows agents last spring 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.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Altman also gave FBI agents permission to seize the same records involving Bradley-Baskin's father, according to a copy of the search warrant.

As part of the investigation, prosecutors filed a lien on a cinderblock office building on Coolidge Highway south of Nine Mile Road in Oak Park on May 13. The building is owned by Twitty Investments LLC.

Bradley-Baskin served as resident agent of Twitty Investments as recently as November 2023, state business records show.

The lien indicates the office building could be forfeited to the government as proceeds of bribery and fraud.

The 2,800-square-foot building is the office of Bradley Law Center, the firm headed by Avery Bradley, according to a court filing.

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