DETROIT — A sitting Detroit judge and three other individuals are facing federal criminal charges in connection with the alleged embezzlement of nearly $300,000 from people under legal guardianship, through a fraudulent scheme that operated for several years before she became a judge.

According to federal court filings, Andrea Bradley-Baskin, 46, allegedly received close to $100,000 of the stolen funds, which prosecutors say she used to purchase a new vehicle and invest in a local Detroit bar.

Federal authorities allege that Bradley-Baskin misappropriated money from estates and accounts belonging to individuals under guardianship through a conspiracy that involved her father, the owner of the guardianship agency that employed her as an attorney and a group home operator.

U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon Jr. said Bradley-Baskin is accused of diverting $70,000 from one ward’s funds to invest in a neighborhood bar and of using another ward’s money to pay for a two-year lease on a new Ford Expedition.

Gorgon said the judge and her associates “abused this high honor for personal gain by preying on the needy protected by the court”, calling the conduct a “grievous betrayal of the public trust.”

According to the indictment, the alleged thefts occurred while Bradley-Baskin and her father, Avery Bradley, 72, were both practicing attorneys representing Guardian and Associates, a company specializing in managing the estates and affairs of adults deemed legally incapacitated.

Also charged is Nancy Williams, 59, the owner of Guardian and Associates. The agency had been appointed as guardian in more than 1,000 cases by the Wayne County Probate Court, which routinely assigns guardians to oversee the personal and financial matters of adults unable to manage their own affairs.

Investigators allege that Guardian and Associates distributed money from vulnerable individuals’ estates to Bradley-Baskin, her father and Dwight Rashad, 69, a Detroit group home operator. Prosecutors further claim the agency siphoned funds by making payments to Rashad on behalf of individuals who were not actually residing in his care facilities.

All four defendants are charged federally with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Bradley-Baskin also faces an additional charge of making a false statement to a federal investigator.

Bradley-Baskin was elected in 2024 to a six-year term on Detroit’s 36th District Court, set to expire in early 2031. She has since been administratively suspended from judicial duties following the federal indictment.

“Regardless of a person’s position in society, no one is above the law,” said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.

She noted that the defendants allegedly conspired to steal from some of the community’s most vulnerable citizens, added that the suspects “looted bank accounts, exploited legal authority and profited from those who relied on them for care and protection” and warned that those who prey on the vulnerable “will be found and brought to justice.”