Lee Chatfield suspected of engaging in criminal enterprise

(Detroit News) Lansing — Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield is under investigation in connection with an alleged "criminal enterprise," potentially involving embezzlement, bribery, campaign finance violations and controlled substances, according to court documents obtained by The Detroit News.

The records, reported for the first time, named other high-profile figures in Lansing and detailed an array of purported crimes that agents for Attorney General Dana Nessel's office are investigating related to Chatfield, who served in the state Legislature from 2015 through 2020.

According to two April affidavits, in which state agents attempted to establish probable cause to get a judge to authorize search warrants, the Republican ex-lawmaker's brother, Aaron Chatfield, told investigators he occasionally received money from Lee Chatfield's political accounts despite not doing "any work." In one affidavit, an agent in the Attorney General's financial crimes section said Aaron Chatfield purchased and provided the prescription drug Adderall to Lee Chatfield and two Lansing lobbyists "20 to 30 times."

While both search warrants were authorized, no one has been charged as part of the investigation, which launched in January after Lee Chatfield's sister-in-law, Rebekah Chatfield, accused the former House speaker of sexually abusing her beginning when she was 15 years old. Lee Chatfield has denied wrongdoing and said through an attorney that he and his sister-in-law had a consensual affair. ..............(more)

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2022/10/18/ex-michigan-house-speaker-lee-chatfield-under-investigation-for-criminal-enterprise/69568954007/