Charmaine Gatlin, Embezzlement, Florida 2024

MIAMI – In a shocking case of corporate greed, a former top official at the Jackson Health Foundation has been charged with embezzling over $1 million in kickbacks, buying designer handbags and a rose gold golf cart, authorities announced today.

According to a federal indictment unsealed today, former Chief Operating Officer Charmaine Gatlin, 52, formerly of Weston, Fla., designed a scheme to embezzle from the nonprofit foundation by submitting false invoices and taking kickbacks.

The indictment alleges that Gatlin, who served as COO of the Jackson Health Foundation from 2014 through 2024, submitted false invoices to the Foundation for at least $3.6 million in goods and services that funded kickbacks to Gatlin, were never provided to the Foundation or Jackson, were provided to Gatlin or her relatives instead of the Foundation or Jackson, or were provided to an Atlanta-based civic organization.

For example, as charged in the indictment, Gatlin approved approximately $2 million in invoices to a Georgia-based audiovisual company for services that were not provided to the Foundation. Instead, the vendor allegedly paid $1 million in kickbacks directly to Gatlin, some of which she used to pay her personal credit card bill.

The indictment also alleges that Gatlin falsified invoices from a merchandise vendor who, at Gatlin’s request, bought her expensive designer gifts from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Apple. Gatlin also submitted a false invoice to the Foundation to cover the purchase of a new rose gold-colored golf cart that she had delivered to her Weston, Florida home in September 2023.

Gatlin faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each of the conspiracy and substantive wire fraud counts. She faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment on each money laundering count.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Miami, with valuable assistance from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young is prosecuting this case, while Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Raemy Charest-Turken is handling asset forfeiture.

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