Judge to Decide Whether Ex-Michigan House Aide Faces Trial in $25 Million Embezzlement Case

Former Legislative Aide Accused of Using State Grant Funds for Personal Vehicle Loans and Precious Metals

LANSING — A Lansing judge will decide next month whether a former Michigan House aide will stand trial on embezzlement and other charges related to a $25 million state grant intended to build a health park in Clare.

Lansing 54-A District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons will make her ruling on May 7, according to the attorney general's office. The Michigan Attorney General's Office accuses David Coker of "enriching himself" through the grant awarded to a nonprofit he created in 2022.

The Alleged Scheme

The attorney general's office says the 2023 State Budget included a $25 million appropriation for a "community health campus pilot project." Coker founded the nonprofit, Complete Health Park in Clare, about a month before the state budget was signed into law.

According to court testimony heard in Lansing, Coker transferred more than $71,000 of the grant money to pay off three vehicle loans and spent another $77,000 at a car dealership.

In the week after Michigan wired nearly $10 million to a nonprofit tasked with building a health and wellness park in Clare, the man who pushed for the project used more than $71,000 of the grant money to pay off three vehicle loans and spent another $77,000 at a car dealership, according to court testimony in Lansing.

State forensic accountant Alex Ungren testified that Coker also spent nearly $200,000 on land along M-10 in Farwell in April 2023. Ungren flagged the fund transfers as "questionable" because they exceeded the $212,000 threshold that the state grant allowed for annual compensation.

Assistant Attorney General Kelli Megyesi said Coker controlled more than $820,000 of the roughly $9.9 million the state sent to Complete Health Park on January 9, 2023.

Megyesi told Judge Simmons she requested the court rule that enough evidence exists for trial.

The Charges

Coker was arraigned on May 14, 2025, in 54A District Court on multiple charges, including:

• Acquiring or maintaining a criminal enterprise — a 20-year felony
• Larceny by false pretenses over $100,000 — a 20-year felony
• Two additional counts of larceny by false pretenses over $100,000
• Two counts of embezzlement by an agent over $100,000 — 20-year felonies
• Misappropriation of public monies — a high misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison

The charges also include abuse of public money and two counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, each a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Defense Argument

Coker has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His defense attorney, Josh Blanchard, argues that Coker's spending was immaterial because the health park's nonprofit board approved a contract with Coker's consulting firm, IW Consulting, that paid him 7% of the project's cost.

There never was an attempt by Mr. Coker to hide his role with IW Consulting. The (health park) board knew about it.

Blanchard told Judge Simmons the state has an "unusual theory of fraud." He said Coker was being accused of not answering a question that was never asked.

According to Blanchard, Darrell Harden, a state Department of Health and Human Services grant administrator assigned to shepherd the Complete Health Park grant, never asked if IW Consulting was tied to Coker. When Harden ultimately did ask for the contract between IW Consulting and the nonprofit, Coker gave it to him.

State corporation records show Coker was the principal behind IW Consulting since 2020. Blanchard said "there are no secrets" about the company's ownership.

Conflict of Interest Allegations

Prosecutors noted the grant agreement with the state says it was the duty of Complete Health Park to "immediately notify" the state of any conflicts of interest.

Megyesi said the conflict was clear — Coker wore too many hats. He drafted and signed invoices for IW Consulting on behalf of Complete Health Park while simultaneously running all the nonprofit's meetings and approving his consulting fees.

He ran all the meetings of the nonprofit that received the grant and approved his consulting fees, Megyesi said, alleging he had purposely appointed board members with limited knowledge of financial matters and pushed an agenda that benefitted him.

Megyesi also said Coker failed to inform state officials about a past criminal conviction of Anthony Demasi, who helped him draft a feasibility study for the project. On January 9, 2023 — the same day Complete Health Park received its $9.9 million state infusion — Coker sent $150,000 to a foundation controlled by Demasi.

Political Context

Coker had served as an aide to then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth. The state planned to spend $25 million on the health park through an earmark added to a state budget by Wentworth in 2022.

Two days after Bridge Michigan first asked about the grant in May 2023, the state said it had paused all spending amid "red flags."

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office led a two-year investigation into the $25 million state budget earmark for a health park in Clare. State police raided Coker's home in Clare last May.