A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday prices former Jackson Well being Basis Chief Working Officer (COO) Charmaine Gatlin with orchestrating a multi-million-dollar embezzlement scheme that included kickbacks, fraudulent invoices, and lavish private purchases—together with designer purses and a rose gold golf cart.
Jackson Well being System is a big, public, nonprofit well being system based mostly in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It is without doubt one of the largest public well being programs in the USA and performs a vital function in offering medical care to each insured and uninsured residents in South Florida.
In celebration of Black Historical past Month, we’re proud to acknowledge our Chief Working Officer and Co-President Charmaine Gatlin. Charmaine has been a driving power behind the inspiration’s success since 2014. pic.twitter.com/GdcNw4aSJy
— Jackson Well being Basis (@JHF_Jackson) February 24, 2021
In accordance with the indictment, Gatlin, 52, of Weston, Florida, served as COO of the Basis—the fundraising arm of Jackson Well being System—from 2014 to 2024. Throughout her tenure, Gatlin earned a base wage starting from $185,000 to $290,000 and was certain by a conflict-of-interest settlement prohibiting her from making choices that benefited her personally.
Federal prosecutors allege that Gatlin submitted fraudulent invoices totaling at the very least $3.6 million for items and providers that both by no means reached the Basis or Jackson Well being, have been misdirected to Gatlin and her kinfolk, or have been supplied to an Atlanta-based civic group known as “Civic Group 1.”
One of the crucial egregious examples outlined within the indictment includes roughly $2 million in invoices to a Georgia-based audiovisual firm for providers by no means rendered. As a substitute, the seller allegedly funneled $1 million in kickbacks to Gatlin—a few of which she reportedly used to repay private bank card payments. Prosecutors say Gatlin additionally coached the seller on methods to falsify the invoices by way of electronic mail.
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The indictment additional alleges that Gatlin submitted falsified invoices from a merchandise vendor to acquire luxurious items, together with objects from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Apple. In one other occasion, she allegedly used Basis funds to purchase a rose gold-colored golf cart delivered on to her house in September 2023.
Gatlin now faces one depend of wire fraud conspiracy, 26 counts of wire fraud, and 5 counts of cash laundering. Every wire fraud-related cost carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail, whereas every cash laundering cost carries as much as 10 years.
U.S. Lawyer Hayden P. O’Byrne of the Southern District of Florida and appearing FBI Miami Particular Agent in Cost Brett Skiles introduced the costs. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Lawyer Elizabeth Younger, with asset forfeiture dealt with by Assistant U.S. Lawyer G. Raemy Charest-Turken.
The FBI Miami workplace led the investigation with help from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Workplace.
