New details revealed about $600k allegedly stolen by ex-Michigan House staffers

Lansing — Anne and Robert Minard, two aides of Republican former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfied, “stole over $600,000” from political fundraising accounts, Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said last week in a court filing.

The Democratic attorney general unveiled 21 criminal charges against the Minards in December that included embezzlement and falsified records. Their preliminary examinations, through which a judge will determine if there is enough evidence for the allegations to proceed to trial, are scheduled to begin Aug. 22 in Ingham County District Court in East Lansing.

Ahead of those exams, the Attorney General’s office filed a 42-page memo on its investigation into Anne Minard, a Lansing fundraiser who served as Chatfield’s director of external affairs, and Robert Minard, a political consultant who was Chatfield’s chief of staff.

The document provided the most detailed information yet on how the Minards, a couple from Clinton County, allegedly wielded dollars from political action committees and nonprofits for personal expenses and how they allegedly took advantage of disclosure rules in Lansing. Nessel’s office originally accused the Minards of wrongfully obtaining $525,000 by taking advantage of the state’s weak transparency laws.

“Using a sophisticated scheme of fraudulent reimbursements, double-billing, misrepresenting expenses and falsifying records, defendants Robert Minard and Anne Minard stole over $600,000 from nonprofit organizations and independent and political action committees,” the Attorney General’s memo said.

Chatfield, a Republican former lawmaker from Levering who was known as a prolific fundraiser, held the top position in the Michigan House in 2019 and 2020. In April, Nessel unveiled 13 separate criminal charges against Chatfield, saying he had flagrantly misused nonprofit dollars to pay off his personal credit card and fund purchases at wineries and luxury retail stores.

Chatfield pleaded not guilty in May.

The Minards were among Chatfield’s top political operatives during his time as speaker. Anne Minard helped oversee his fundraising accounts, which spanned millions of dollars, four political action committees (PACs) that could raise unlimited amounts of money from donors and multiple nonprofit organizations.

In Michigan, lawmakers can operate as many PACs as they want to, and they can use nonprofits to collect money from donors whose names don’t have to be disclosed. Likewise, despite being connected to public officeholders, the nonprofits have to release few details of how they spend their money.

Anne Minard’s lawyer, Gerald Gleeson, declined to comment on the new filing from Nessel’s office.

“I will wait to do my talking in the courtroom,” Gleeson said in a Tuesday email.

Attorney Robert Harrison, who’s representing Robert Minard, said the Attorney General’s office is inappropriately attempting to turn bookkeeping mistakes and the failure to submit receipts into criminal charges. Lawyers for the firm Dykema had advised the Minards’ accounts, Harrison said.

“I believe they’re wrong,” Harrison said of the Attorney General’s claims. “It’s as simple as that.”

But the Attorney General’s new memo said the Minards had under-reported their income on tax filings by $672,429.

Moving money

Chatfield’s primary nonprofit fundraising organization was called the Peninsula Fund. He reported collecting $1.3 million from undisclosed donors during his two years as speaker: 2019 and 2020.

An annual filing with the state of Michigan listed Anne Minard as president of the Peninsula Fund in 2018, and a submission to the Internal Revenue Service by the group described her as the principal officer in 2017.

Over a three-month period from Nov. 16, 2020, through Feb. 17, 2021, Anne Minard made $64,683 in payments on her personal credit card from the Peninsula Fund, according to the Attorney General’s memo.

About 88% of the payments for her personal credit card over that time period came from the nonprofit, which was supposed to be focused on promoting social welfare and can’t be used for someone’s personal benefit. Only $6,536 in payments on the credit card came from Anne Minard’s own bank account, the memo said.

But during the three-month period, the credit card had $14,109 in expenses that were “obviously personal in nature,” according to the Attorney General’s office. Those expenses included a $1,000 personal medical procedure at Red Cedar Surgery Center in Haslett, the purchase of a set of wine-barrel themed bongos from Guitar Center and a $7,806 purchase from Gucci.

“The Gucci transaction was associated with the purchase of four items: a $3,300 bag, a $3,400 bag, a $295 card holder and a $370 scarf,” the Attorney General’s memo said.

The Attorney General’s office said the movement of money from the Peninsula Fund to Anne Minard’s personal credit card was the reason for a charge of embezzlement from a nonprofit organization.

Overall, Anne Minard faces 12 felony counts in the alleged criminal enterprise, while her husband faces nine felony counts, according to court records.

The allegation of conducting a criminal enterprise is among the most serious of the charges, carrying a penalty of up to 20 years behind bars.

For a better Michigan?

The Attorney General’s office is also alleging that a PAC, connected to the Minards, called Working Together for a Better Michigan submitted false campaign finance disclosures while the Minards embezzled about $470,755 from the PAC.

The Minards converted $470,755 of Working Together’s money to their own use by depositing payments into their consulting firm’s bank account and moving the money from the consulting firm’s account to their personal bank account, according to the Attorney General’s office.

The Minards’ consulting firm was named Victor Strategies or VS.

“There are no known contractual agreements between VS and WTFBM that support the payments,” the Attorney General’s memo said. “There do not appear to be any invoices from VS to WTFBM that request payment for services rendered.”

The PAC formed in June 2019. Its treasurer was Shannon Huver, who is Anne Minard’s sister, according to the memo. However, Huver did not handle any of the financial transactions for Working Together for a Better Michigan, the memo said.

The PAC reported raising $1.5 million in 2020 with about $1.3 million coming from committees tied to Chatfield.

On July 3, the Secretary of State’s office sent a letter to Huver and Chatfield, asking them to explain why “a significant number” of contributions and expenditures were left out of their required campaign finance disclosures.

The Secretary of State’s office sent similar letters to Chatfield’s other committees after reviewing bank records that were obtained by the Attorney General’s office through its criminal investigation.

The letter on Working Together for a Better Michigan said, in one instance, the PAC had written a $338,762 check to Victor Strategies in November 2020. But in disclosures, WTFBM described the expense as 14 different smaller expenditures to a printing company.

The 14 entries were “designed to mask a large check to VS,” the Attorney General’s memo said.

The Secretary of State’s office gave Hoover and Chatfield 15 business days from July 3 to respond to his letter. But there was no response posted in the committee’s file as of Tuesday.

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New details revealed about $600k allegedly stolen by ex-Michigan House staffers

Moving money

For a better Michigan?

By Matthew. Jr

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New details revealed about $600k allegedly stolen by ex-Michigan House staffers

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