Probe into $25M health campus grant in Clare referred to attorney general

Lansing — A watchdog office within Michigan's health department has referred an investigation into a $25 million grant championed by former state House Speaker Jason Wentworth to Attorney General Dana Nessel's office, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Wentworth, a Republican from Clare County who left the state House because of term limits at the end of 2022, secured language in a state budget last year to provide $25 million for a community health and recreation center in Clare.

David Coker Jr., a former legislative aide to Wentworth, set up a nonprofit organization named Complete Health Park in June 2022 and won the grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the project less than seven months later.

The state health department's Office of Inspector General has been examining the grant arrangement since at least May. The office's agents "provide investigation and advisory services to ensure appropriate and efficient use of available public resources," according to the agency.

"The Office of Inspector General has referred this matter over to the Attorney General’s office," said Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in a Tuesday email. "This remains an open investigation."

Sutfin declined to provide any other details. And it wasn't immediately clear what element of the grant investigators had been focusing on or which individuals' actions were under scrutiny.

Kimberly Bush, spokesman for Nessel, confirmed the Attorney General's office had received the referral, but Bush said she couldn't comment on an ongoing investigation.

Josh Blanchard, a Greenville-based criminal defense attorney representing Coker, declined to comment.

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Mary Ann Sabo, a spokeswoman for Wentworth, said the former speaker's team was unaware any referral had been made to the Attorney General's office.

"If that is the case, we’re glad to hear so a proper investigation can be done, the truth can come out and the proper parties can be held accountable in this matter if wrongdoing has occurred," Sabo said.

Wentworth has retained Grand Rapids criminal defense attorney Brian Lennon.

Mount Pleasant-based Goldman Advisors, a firm led by Anthony Demasi that had been involved in the health center project, filed a lawsuit in April against Coker and his company, IW Consulting, alleging fraud and breach of contract.

In an initial court filing, Goldman Advisors claimed Coker first contacted Demasi about the Complete Health Park project in May 2021, a year before the grant appeared in the state budget, and that Coker allocated $1.8 million in funding "for himself."

In a May 3 response to the Goldman Advisors lawsuit, Coker's lawyer Blanchard said Demasi's legal claims failed, and he called Demasi "a disbarred lawyer and convicted federal fraudster."

The $25 million allocation was part of a rush of spending on special projects — spanning about $1 billion — by Michigan lawmakers last year as the state benefited from a financial surplus.

A Detroit News investigation in September 2022 found the spending spree on projects was orchestrated largely behind closed doors by Michigan's leaders, with taxpayer money being directed to benefit the plans of private developers, campaign donors and political interest groups.

cmauger@detroitnews.com