By Simon D. Schuster
Bridge Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
LANSING — Former House Speaker Lee Chatfield’s chief of staff has pleaded guilty to two charges in a wide-ranging multi-year corruption probe that alleged he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from political accounts they oversaw.
The investigation ensnared Minard, Chatfield and their spouses with corruption-related charges for allegedly spending some of the millions of dollars they fundraised to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included tropical vacations and luxury handbags.
Minard pleaded guilty in Ingham County Circuit Court on Nov. 6 to filing a false tax return and stealing between $20,000 and $50,000 from Chatfield-linked fundraising accounts.
According to prosecutors, Minard will cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Chatfield in exchange for receiving a six-month suspended jail sentence, three years of probation and paying the state roughly $37,000 in back taxes and penalties.
“He received payments that he was not entitled to receive,” Rob Minard’s lawyer, Robert Harrison, said in court.
Minard admitted to Judge James Jamo he was “overbilling” clients his political consulting firm, Victor Strategies, managed as clients — mentioning “candidates” who had hired him.
Lee and Stephanie Chatfield have both pleaded not guilty in their own cases — they’ve been charged for misusing money from the same accounts, along with other corruption-related crimes — but aren’t scheduled to face trial for nearly 10 months, in September 2026.
Anné Minard, Rob Minard’s wife, first pleaded guilty in late October, agreeing to cooperate with investigators in exchange for the same reduced sentence.
Rob Minard is scheduled to face sentencing Dec. 17. Anné Minard is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3.
The Minards were charged in late 2023 with eight felony charges each, including for allegedly “conducting a criminal enterprise,” a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and embezzling $100,000 or more.
Anné Minard separately faced two additional counts of embezzlement of less than $20,000 and two counts of false pretenses less than $20,000.
“This is the conclusion of a terribly disruptive series of events for Mr. and Mrs. Minard, and it’s good to get it over,” Harrison said after the hearing.
Investigators alleged in the Minards’ preliminary examination that the couple stole more than $600,000 in total from the accounts, including to pay for personal expenses such as Gucci handbags and services at a plastic surgeon.
Prosecutors brought in a forensic accountant who described five different ways the Minards siphoned money from the accounts they controlled.
At the time of the crimes in 2019 and 2020, Rob Minard had been the highest-ranking staff member in Michigan’s House of Representatives as Lee Chatfield’s chief of staff, earning a higher salary than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Anné Minard served as Chatfield’s director of external affairs and oversaw his prodigious fundraising efforts.
Lee Chatfield’s attorney, Mary Chartier, in a statement said the plea deal shows “the lengths (Attorney General Dana Nessel is) willing to go to try and convict Mr. Chatfield,” calling her a “political rival.”
“Her motivation is clear, and we look forward to exposing that?and a great deal more ? at trial, including during Mr. Minard’s extensive cross-examination,” she added
The Minards also profited from Victor Strategies, which they managed together, while collecting legislative salaries and had oversight of more than half a dozen Chatfield-linked fundraising accounts.
In court filings, Chatfield’s brother and sister-in-law described receiving checks from Anné Minard to give to Chatfield coinciding with trips to Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas, Aspen and the Bahamas.
More than $6 million moved through Chatfield’s various accounts during his tenure in the Legislature, and Victor Strategies was paid more than $1 million from political committees during that period.
Bridge Michigan
This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.
LANSING — Former House Speaker Lee Chatfield’s chief of staff has pleaded guilty to two charges in a wide-ranging multi-year corruption probe that alleged he embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from political accounts they oversaw.
The investigation ensnared Minard, Chatfield and their spouses with corruption-related charges for allegedly spending some of the millions of dollars they fundraised to bankroll a lavish lifestyle that included tropical vacations and luxury handbags.
Minard pleaded guilty in Ingham County Circuit Court on Nov. 6 to filing a false tax return and stealing between $20,000 and $50,000 from Chatfield-linked fundraising accounts.
According to prosecutors, Minard will cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Chatfield in exchange for receiving a six-month suspended jail sentence, three years of probation and paying the state roughly $37,000 in back taxes and penalties.
“He received payments that he was not entitled to receive,” Rob Minard’s lawyer, Robert Harrison, said in court.
Minard admitted to Judge James Jamo he was “overbilling” clients his political consulting firm, Victor Strategies, managed as clients — mentioning “candidates” who had hired him.
Lee and Stephanie Chatfield have both pleaded not guilty in their own cases — they’ve been charged for misusing money from the same accounts, along with other corruption-related crimes — but aren’t scheduled to face trial for nearly 10 months, in September 2026.
Anné Minard, Rob Minard’s wife, first pleaded guilty in late October, agreeing to cooperate with investigators in exchange for the same reduced sentence.
Rob Minard is scheduled to face sentencing Dec. 17. Anné Minard is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 3.
The Minards were charged in late 2023 with eight felony charges each, including for allegedly “conducting a criminal enterprise,” a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and embezzling $100,000 or more.
Anné Minard separately faced two additional counts of embezzlement of less than $20,000 and two counts of false pretenses less than $20,000.
“This is the conclusion of a terribly disruptive series of events for Mr. and Mrs. Minard, and it’s good to get it over,” Harrison said after the hearing.
Investigators alleged in the Minards’ preliminary examination that the couple stole more than $600,000 in total from the accounts, including to pay for personal expenses such as Gucci handbags and services at a plastic surgeon.
Prosecutors brought in a forensic accountant who described five different ways the Minards siphoned money from the accounts they controlled.
At the time of the crimes in 2019 and 2020, Rob Minard had been the highest-ranking staff member in Michigan’s House of Representatives as Lee Chatfield’s chief of staff, earning a higher salary than Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Anné Minard served as Chatfield’s director of external affairs and oversaw his prodigious fundraising efforts.
Lee Chatfield’s attorney, Mary Chartier, in a statement said the plea deal shows “the lengths (Attorney General Dana Nessel is) willing to go to try and convict Mr. Chatfield,” calling her a “political rival.”
“Her motivation is clear, and we look forward to exposing that?and a great deal more ? at trial, including during Mr. Minard’s extensive cross-examination,” she added
The Minards also profited from Victor Strategies, which they managed together, while collecting legislative salaries and had oversight of more than half a dozen Chatfield-linked fundraising accounts.
In court filings, Chatfield’s brother and sister-in-law described receiving checks from Anné Minard to give to Chatfield coinciding with trips to Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas, Aspen and the Bahamas.
More than $6 million moved through Chatfield’s various accounts during his tenure in the Legislature, and Victor Strategies was paid more than $1 million from political committees during that period.
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