EAST LANSING — Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield continued his preliminary exam Thursday as prosecutors detailed payments that they say show his embezzlement of thousands of dollars of campaign funds.
Chatfield, the Levering Republican who served as Michigan’s House Speaker from 2019 through 2020, is accused of misusing funds from his political fundraising nonprofits, the Peninsula Fund and the Chatfield Majority Fund.
Chatfield has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty, along with his wife Stephanie, who was also charged with embezzlement.
Various close friends and family members testified, including childhood friend Wil Lovitt and brothers Aaron and Paul Chatfield. The brothers and Lovitt detailed trips they took with Lee Chatfield to Las Vegas and the Bahamas.
Prosecutors say portions of those trips were paid for with campaign funds and showed two checks ranging between $1,600 and $5,000, paid to the men from the Chatfield Majority Fund.
The Chatfield brothers and Lovitt say that they assisted on Lee’s campaigns for the state House, often over non-standard hours and were compensated over inconsistent intervals.
Chatfield’s team attempted to cast the payments as reimbursement for campaign work.
“I don’t remember the exact timeline, when i stopped working with him to when i got this check, but the amount — I do remember thinking the amount was a bit much,” said Paul Chatfield when asked about the $5,000 check. “Now, if you want to argue, did I work a lot for him, and was that deserved? Probably also, yes.”
Michelle Gallagher, a forensic accounting expert working with Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office, examined Chatfield’s financial records from January 2020 to April 2021.
She says that Chatfield made about $153,000 in charges on his personal credit card, while the Peninsula Fund paid over $152,000 to the card — about 99.4% of Chatfield’s total personal card charges.
“When I drilled into the actual charges that were made during that time period, it validated for me that pretty much all of those expenses were paid by the Peninsula Fund in one way, shape or form,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher says that the Peninsula Fund reimbursed Chatfield for nearly a thousand dollars in dry-cleaning expenses, close to $1,500 for car washes and over $6,000 for personal clothing.
Chatfield’s attorneys attacked Gallagher’s credibility, asking about her experience on similar criminal cases and casting doubt on her familiarity with the workings of chatfield’s organizations.
Chatfield will be back in court Friday for the final day of his preliminary exam, after which the judge will decide whether the state has shown if there’s enough evidence to send the case to trial.