Judge orders former aide to stand trial in Michigan earmark embezzlement case

Judge orders trial for David Coker, a former legislative aide accused of embezzling part of $25 million earmark
‘There’s more than mere suspicion’ Coker committed crimes, Judge Kristen D. Simmons said in her decision
Coker has pleaded not guilty. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted

LANSING — A former legislative aide will stand trial on allegations of embezzling part of a $25 million state budget earmark to pay off car loans and buy precious metals, a Michigan judge ruled Wednesday.

David Coker, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges stemming from a grant then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth wrote into a 2022 budget bill for construction of a health park in Clare.

“There’s more than mere suspicion” that Coker embezzled funds, conducted a criminal enterprise and made false pretenses as charged, Judge Kristen D. Simmons said in a bench ruling.

“The court, in review of the evidence, believes that probable cause does exist” to bind Coker over for trial, she determined.

Related stories:

The decision followed reporting by Bridge Michigan, which led the state to freeze the grant and eventually pursue charges. The grant — and similar ones like it — were approved without bids during late-night, closed-door sessions.

During two days of testimony in March and April, former colleagues said Coker had recruited them to serve on the board of a nonprofit he created and effectively controlled.

Prosecutors allege Coker funneled money from the Complete Health Park nonprofit to his own for-profit consulting firm and then into personal bank accounts, spending the cash on lavish purchases like gold, platinum, vehicles and firearms.

In a statement, Attorney General Dana Nessel said she is “relieved” the case was bound over for a trial. She said her office will “prove that Mr. Coker funneled grant money into an obscure LLC for his own personal gain – funds that were supposed to be dedicated to Clare County’s public health.”

Coker has denied wrongdoing and maintained that he was attempting to build a health facility for a region that desperately needed one.

“This was a real project with land purchased and work underway,” his attorney, Joshua Blanchard, said Wednesday in a statement.

“Clare was supposed to get child care, therapy pools, fitness, rehabilitation, and other needed services. Instead, Attorney General Nessel chose to criminalize a project approved by her political opponents. We believe jurors will agree this was legitimate—not criminal.”

As Bridge first reported, Coker created the Complete Health Park nonprofit in 2022, shortly after Wentworth first added funding for the project to a state budget bill that was eventually approved.

Two days after Bridge first asked about the grant in May 2023, the state said it had paused all spending amid “red flags,” later revealed to include possible double payments to Coker’s firms.

In a preliminary hearing, the nonprofit’s chief financial officer testified he was concerned by invoices paid to Coker’s IW Consulting firm which totaled more than $820,000.

In at least one case, Coker appeared to personally sign the invoice authorizing payment.

Emails reported by Bridge show state officials felt pressure to speed payments because the recipient was “well connected politically.”

Wentworth, a Farwell Republican who Coker previously worked for and has since been term-limited out of office, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Nor has his successor, state Rep. Tom Kunse, whose family sold land to Coker’s nonprofit for $3.5 million.

The Coker case is one of two criminal prosecutions related to a bevy of earmarks Michigan lawmakers added to the state budget in 2022.

This month, Nessel charged businesswoman Fay Beydoun with multiple felonies for allegedly stealing part of a $20 million state grant she had obtained by leveraging political connections.

Those and other earmarks have led to reforms in Lansing. New rules require lawmakers to publicly disclose funding requests before budget votes and prohibit grants to newly formed nonprofits.