Previous Speaker Lee Schats, a wife in the court with the start of the preliminary examination of financial charges

East Lansing – Michigan Li Cheles, former Speaker of Michigan, returned to the court on Wednesday, as a preliminary test in the test to report whether the former Republican leader in the House of Representatives and his wife will trial for a series of financial charges in East Lansening.

Lee Chatfield 13 faces embezzlement, conspiracy and theft in a local court 54b, and was accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Michigan and in court documents on the use of public funds and private funds that are collected through non -profitable political organizations to pay the price of flights in emerging restaurants and family aviation while He was in office. His wife, Stephanie Stepheel, faces one account of both embezzlement and conspiracy.

The most dangerous accusation faced by Lee ShVeld, who runs a criminal institution, is a 20 -year -old felonyand If convicted. Both charges against Stephanie Stefeld, each of them holds a 10 -year prison sentence, if convicted.

Li and Stephanie Stefeld acknowledged that, through their lawyers, at the trial of last year.

Michigan State Police began an investigation into Lee Schates in 2022 after his brother’s wife, Rabika, told Lansing Police in late 2021 that the former speaker attacked her for years, starting with the age of about 15 years. She said that the matter started when she was a student and Lee Schides was a teacher at a small private religious school run by his father in northern Michigan. Michigan’s Prosecutor’s Office began assisting the state police in the investigation, which expanded to investigate allegations of campaign financing violations.

Mary Chartier, Li Chelesal’s lawyer, said he had a consensual relationship with his sister but he did not commit any crimes.

When the Prosecutor Dana Nessel announced charges against Cheles in April, she said that the investigation of allegations of sexual assault had been closed without charges.

Danny Weesm, the press secretary of the Nissil Office, told the Detroit Free Press last week that the investigation of Lee and Stephanie Chelesald’s behavior was still open.

In an e -mail statement while financial fees were taken against the chat field, Chartier called the political motivated accusations, and said: “We are ready to fight every step on the road.”

Shartiti said at a time.

Provincial judge, Molly Hennessy Greenwal, heads the initial examination. Initial examinations are listening sessions in criminal procedures to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to send a case to the trial of the jury. The session is expected to continue until Friday.

Lee Schats, who is now 36 years old, was the head of the Michigan house in 2019 and 2020. He was considered a strong collection of donations during his period in Michigan’s policy – including collecting millions of dollars through some non -profit organizations, which are sometimes called care funds Social.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Court Files claims that Lee Schides used the peninsula fund, which is non -profit political organizations, to cover personal expenses, including $ 132,000 credit card balance. In a written statement submitted in the case, an investigator in the Nessel office wrote that a credit card was used to pay fees “clearly in nature”, including purchases in the Universal Studios gifts in Orlando, Florida, and other expenses that were made during Family vacation in November 2020.

In April, Nessel said that Lee ShVeld also used a “choice treatment” scheme, as he wrote checks of money to a colleague or near, and then recovered the money to spend personal expenses. The written certificate confirms that the money was used for personal expenditures, such as a trip to the Bahamas in 2018.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also claims the court files, Lee Shobeld, a mistake, and has made a mistake in obtaining a distance of miles and travel granted to him as a member of the House of Representatives for trips that he did not personally take from overcoming an apartment by the peninsula fund.

Stephanie Stefeld was incorrectly accused of embezzlement of the peninsula funds for personal use, according to a document presented by the Nessel office.

This story is evolving and will be updated.

Call Arpan Love: Alobo@freepress.com

This article was originally appeared in Detroit Free Press: a preliminary exam for Mishi’s speaker