Former MI GOP house speaker charged with embezzlement and conducting a criminal enterprise

17 April 2024

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's (D) office has charged former state representative Lee Chatfield (R) — who was speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives in 2019 and 2020 — with 13 felonies after a lengthy investigation.

Local news site MLive reported that Chatfield and his wife, Stephanie, have both been charged with embezzlement, conducting a criminal enterprise and various other financial crimes. Nessel said the charges were filed as the result of a years-long investigation that began in 2021.

"Our investigation has uncovered evidence that Lee Chatfield used various different schemes to embezzle, steal and convert both private and public monies to fund a lavish lifestyle that a state salary could not possibly afford," Nessel said during a press conference.

Nessel's office uncovered the alleged crimes while probing both Chatfield's campaign accounts as well as a nonprofit "dark money" organization called the Peninsula Fund. Both Chatfield and his wife allegedly used Peninsula's account to pay for opulent vacations and excursions, including a $32,000 trip to the Bahamas, a family vacation to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and purchases of luxury items.

"The evidence shows that Stephanie Chatfield made payments to Lee Chatfield’s personal credit cards directly from Peninsula Fund accounts," Nessel said.

According to CBS News, the charge of conducting a criminal enterprise carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The four counts of embezzlement of funds from a nonprofit organization (between $1,000 and $20,000) each come with a maximum prison sentence of up to 10 years and/or a $15,000 fine. The three charges of embezzlement by a public officer of more than $50 each carry a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years along with a $10,000 fine.

Chatfield is also facing one charge of conspiracy to commit embezzlement from a nonprofit organization — punishable by up to 10 years in prison — three counts of embezzlement and one felony count of violating the Charitable Trust Act. The latter two alleged crimes are each punishable by up to five years in prison.

In addition to Chatfield and his wife, Nessel also charged Anné and Rob Minard in the investigation, who worked as Chatfield's political director and chief of staff, respectively. Both are charged with more than a dozen counts of embezzlement for allegedly raiding those same accounts to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson lamented Michigan's outdated laws governing campaign finance and nonprofit financial disclosure. MLive reported that she called for the passage of the BRITE Act, which would strengthen nonprofit disclosure laws.

"That the egregious, and blatant embezzlement of taxpayer dollars and nonprofit funds for personal enrichment were able to go undetected for so long underscores a failure of our current laws to prohibit corruption in state government,” Benson told reporters. “This culture of corruption must end. Our citizens deserve better than this.”

Nessel's investigation into Chatfield began after his sister-in-law accused him of repeated sexual assaults for roughly a decade, though Chatfield denied those allegations and described it as a consensual affair. Nessel credited her for being the catalyst of the investigation, but said the investigation into those allegations had been closed, saying "we cannot reach the appropriate proofs required as it relates to the allegations of sexual assault."

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