Detroit— Former City Council president Monica Conyers owes as much as $50,000 to posh retailer Neiman Marcus, according to public records.
Her husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, listed the debt in a financial disclosure form filed Friday.
The form says Monica Conyers owes between $15,001 and $50,000 to Neiman Marcus and as much as $100,000 for a school loan from the 1990s.
The couple owes between $100,001 and $250,000 on a mortgage for their home on West Seven Mile in Detroit.
John Conyers also owes as much as $65,000 on two reserve lines of credit, according to the form.
John Conyers could not be reached for comment Thursday. He faces a tough primary race Aug. 7 for the newly redrawn 13th Congressional District, which includes parts of Detroit, western Wayne County and Downriver.
The Neiman Marcus debt is tied to a revolving charge account.
Monica Conyers' finances drew public scrutiny in March 2010. That's when a federal judge declared her indigent and appointed a tax-funded public defender to help her appeal the three-year sentence she received for bribery conspiracy.
The fact that her husband was paid more than $170,000 the year before wasn't a consideration when calculating her ability to pay a lawyer.
Federal law requires the determination of a defendant's ability to hire a lawyer to be made without regard for the financial ability of the family.
Monica Conyers, 47, was sent to a West Virginia federal prison in September 2010 to serve a 37-month sentence for bribery.
She pleaded guilty to accepting at least $6,000 for her deciding vote on the 2007 Synagro Technologies Inc. sludge contract.
Conyers is serving time at a women's prison camp in Alderson, W.Va., dubbed "Camp Cupcake."
The prison got its nickname because it offers perks, including washers, dryers, microwave ovens, hair dryers, curling irons and cosmetology areas where inmate-to-inmate pedicures and manicures are allowed.
She is scheduled to be released in May.
The Neiman Marcus debt was first reported by Politico.
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