Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday she does not expect to file any more charges after alleging a former top House staffer siphoned off money for his own use from funds earmarked for a $25 million health facility project in Clare.
The charges allege David Coker, who was an aide to then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, spent $820,000 that was supposed to be used for the project to, instead, buy coins, gold bars and firearm accessories, among other things. At a press conference to announce the charges, Nessel said a dearth of relevant experience by a grant seeker should be a warning signal.
“They have no track record,” she said. “They can’t show that they’ve done anything in terms of major projects that have been successful of this kind or really even any kind at all. So, that’s a major red flag.”
The earmark was slipped into the 2023 state budget anonymously, which was allowed at the time. Since then, the Legislature adopted rules that require every earmark to have a sponsor, and the House requires those sponsors’ names to be made public before budget votes.
Nessel said ending anonymous earmarks is a step in the right direction.
“I’m very encouraged by these actions to bring more sunshine into the appropriations process and support any further guardrails the Legislature sees fit to prevent fraudsters from stealing our hard-working tax dollars,” she said.
Coker was charged Wednesday with seven felonies alleging he misused public funds. Nessel alleges the fraud was committed using faked invoices from his for-profit consulting firm.
Coker’s not-for-profit organization, Complete Health Park, was paid $9.9 million from the grant before the funding was halted. Nessel said her office is looking into how it might recoup the expended funds.
The not-for-profit paid $3.5 million for the property, which was purchased from state Representative Tom Kunse (R-Clare). Nessel said Kunse is not suspected of wrongdoing.
Coker’s attorney said his client was cooperating with the inquiry, and the charges came out of the blue. Joshua Blanchard told Michigan Public Radio his client was trying to bring a major project to build a health services campus to Clare.
“He disclosed everything to the state, been aboveboard about every bit of it all along and, for whatever reason, Dana’s office decided they wanted a press conference and so they issued charges,” said Blanchard.
The next step will be for the state to outline the charges and the evidence to a judge at a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 23.
Nessel’s office is also looking into two other cases of possible earmark fraud, including spending by a not-for-profit formed by businesswoman and major Democratic Party donor Fay Beydoun on a $4,500 coffeemaker and first-class plane tickets and a $2 million grant to fund a study on bringing low-orbit rocket launch sites to Michigan.
