Former Michigan House speaker slated for Sept. 21 trial amid accusations of misusing political funds

Filed 1d ago · Via Michigan Advance · The Buffoon Desk

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Goblin Tinker Soldier Spy

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: The White House · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

A pretrial hearing for former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield concluded with no major developments, and prosecutors confirmed the case will proceed to trial September 21. Chatfield faces 13 felony charges, including running a criminal enterprise and embezzlement, accused of misusing funds from his political action committees and from the Peninsula Fund, a nonprofit he controlled.

Investigators allege he claimed mileage reimbursements for trips never taken and used nonprofit money to rent an apartment he then sublet and pocketed the proceeds from. The case began as a sexual assault investigation opened by his sister-in-law in 2021, which the attorney general's office later closed without charges before pivoting to the financial allegations; his wife Stephanie has already been sentenced to probation for her role.

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An investigation that started with an assault allegation and ended with mileage-reimbursement fraud charges is its own small commentary on which parts of the case prosecutors could actually prove. The Peninsula Fund apparently functioned less like a nonprofit and more like a subletting side hustle with a tax exemption attached.

Source: Read the original at Michigan Advance → Scored: Goblin Tinker Soldier Spy · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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