Lansing — Stephanie Chatfield, the wife of former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield who’s accused of embezzling political funds, finalized a plea agreement Tuesday with the Attorney General’s Office.
The deal makes Stephanie Chatfield the third close ally of the ex-political leader to publicly admit to a financial crime and means she’ll avoid a trial that was expected to take place this fall. Meanwhile, 13 felony charges remain pending against her husband, once viewed as a rising star in Republican politics.
Under the new agreement, Stephanie Chatfield pleaded guilty to a single felony count of embezzling less than $1,000 from a nonprofit organization, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. She had faced two more serious charges of embezzling between $1,000 and $20,000. Those felonies could have carried penalties of up to 10 years behind bars.
Stephanie Chatfield will serve a term of probation, which will be later determined by the court, and, upon successful completion of probation, the remaining counts against her will be dismissed, according to Nessel’s office.
“Nonprofits and 501(c)(4) organizations are meant to support the public welfare and well-being, they’re not a personal slush fund for the politically connected,” Nessel said. “These are strictly regulated accounts and that regulation relies, in-part, on honest operations and truthful financial reporting.”
Lee Chatfield served in the Michigan House from 2015 through 2020. The Chatfields are from Levering in Emmet County.
Prosecutors have alleged that Lee and Stephanie Chatfield repeatedly moved money from the Peninsula Fund, a nonprofit fundraising account the ex-speaker used to raise money from disclosed donors, to make $152,270 in direct payments on their personal credit card.
Some were legitimate nonprofit expenses, while others weren’t, prosecutors have said.
The nonprofit’s payments ended up amounting to 99.4% of the credit card’s spending over a period of more than a one year, according to an accountant who was hired by the prosecutors.
The money went to haircuts, car washes, $964 in dry cleaning, transactions at Universal Studios in Florida and a $1,699 purchase on March 6, 2021, from the luxury clothing retailer Lilly Pulitzer, which sells beach and resort wares for women, according to the accountant’s review.
In May 2025, Ingham County District Court Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt ruled there was enough evidence to bound the Chatfields over for trial. Lee Chatfield’s charges are still pending in Ingham County Circuit Court.
Nessel’s office announced the charges against the Chatfields in April 2024. The probe dated back to January 2022.
The state launched an investigation into him after his sister-in-law, Rebekah Chatfield, alleged to police in late 2021 that she had been sexually abused by the former speaker for years. In January 2022, Lee Chatfield, the son of a pastor who ran for office as a conservative Republican, denied claims he sexually abused his sister-in-law but admitted to a years-long extramarital affair with his brother’s wife.
The attorney general, ultimately, did not charge Lee Chatfield in relation to the allegations from his sister-in-law but instead pursued several financial charges against the former House speaker.
Two of Lee Chatfield’s top aides, Robert and Anne Minard, who also faced embezzlement charges, previously reached plea agreements with Nessel’s office and received probation.
Stephanie Chatfield’s sentencing will take place July 20.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Former House Speaker Lee Chatfield’s wife gets plea deal
Reporting by Craig Mauger, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Craig Mauger, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
