Ex-COO of Jackson Health Foundation accused of pocketing more than $1M bonds out
Charmaine Gatlin drove all the way from Georgia to make her first appearance on Wednesday afternoon in Miami federal court, where she faced fraud charges alleging she stole millions of dollars from the fundraising arm of Jackson Health System.
Gatlin, 52, the former chief operating officer of Jackson Health Foundation, said nothing as a magistrate judge set her bond at $30,000 and her arraignment for later this month. One of the bond conditions prohibits her from contacting co-conspirators and others who are not named in a grand jury indictment.
Her husband, Arthur Gatlin, who co-signed the bond, accompanied her to court. After the brief court hearing, Gatlin and her defense attorney, David Howard, declined to comment.
Gatlin was arrested on May 21 in a town near Savannah where she now lives. The indictment charges her with a single count of conspiring with other individuals to commit wire fraud, 26 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. If convicted, the charges carry sentences that could send her to prison for years.
Gatlin is accused of directing an almost decade-long kickback scheme in which she pocketed more than $1 million from purported Jackson Health Foundation contractors and used the money to buy expensive designer items from Louis Vuitton and Gucci. She's also accused of paying a vendor to make her a rose gold-covered golf cart valued at more than $15,000 that was delivered to her Weston home in 2023.
$3.6 million in 'false' invoices: indictment
The indictment says that as the Foundation's COO for the past decade, Gatlin signed off on $3.6 million of 'false' invoices submitted by South Florida and Georgia contractors for goods and services that were not provided to the foundation.
She authorized using foundation funds to pay an audiovisual firm, a store that sold designer goods, and an event planning company that created videos, a website and other services for a family member's softball team, the indictment says.
Gatlin, who received a bachelor's degree in French from the University of Florida, has ties to several Atlanta-area civic and religious groups.
According to the indictment, Gatlin had worked as a vice president at one of those civic organizations before she was hired at the Jackson Health Foundation a decade ago. The indictment says she diverted some of the money from her foundation scheme to pay for services, such as putting together annual conferences between 2019 and 2024, that benefited her former employer in Atlanta.
Her former employer is not identified in the indictment, but the Miami Herald has learned its name is 100 Black Men of America, Inc., a youth mentoring organization with headquarters in Atlanta. Gatlin also listed the civic organization on her LinkedIn page, where she indicates she was senior vice president of events and operations from 2006 to 2014.
'The invoices approved by Gatlin made it falsely appear as though the Foundation or Jackson received the goods and services,' the indictment says.
Six-figure salary
Gatilin started working as an executive for the Foundation in 2014. Her salary as its chief operating officer ranged from $185,000 to $290,000 between 2019 and 2024, according to the indictment.
Gatlin, who spent the past decade as the foundation's COO, was fired in November, according to the 20-page indictment, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young.
Before her departure, she had risen to co-president of the foundation alongside Flavia Llizo, who is now CEO. As co-president and COO of the foundation, Gatlin oversaw financial management, budgeting and special events.
'Possible misappropriation' of funds: audit
The Miami Herald reported at the end of January that an audit of the foundation showed that it was under investigation for a 'possible misappropriation' of funds. The audit said the investigation was being conducted by an independent forensic expert and law enforcement.
The investigation was brought to light earlier this year by the Public Health Trust, the volunteer board appointed by the county to oversee the tax-subsidized hospital system. Though Jackson Health and the foundation work symbiotically, their finances are separate.
The Herald recently requested public records related to the Foundation's audit and Gatlin's alleged misappropriation of funds, including invoices, but Jackson officials said they could not provide them because of the ongoing FBI investigation.
The Jackson Health Foundation — which raised more than $9 million for Jackson Health last year — is governed by a volunteer board of directors and helps raise money for one of South Florida's largest public hospitals, Jackson Memorial. It serves as the county's public safety net hospital, providing care to everyone, indigent or not.
Miami Herald staff writer Michelle Marchante contributed to this story.
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