Motions filed to drop embezzlement charges against David Sutherland

The Michigan attorney general’s office will not retry a criminal case against a Grosse Pointe lawyer accused of embezzling from Carhartt heiress Gretchen Valade. The office has filed a motion to dismiss the case after a Wayne County jury acquitted him of two charges last month and could not reach a verdict on two other counts.

The motions to dismiss the charges against David Sutherland, filed late last week, cite only “the best interests of justice” as their reasoning. The Detroit News has reached out to the attorney general’s office for comment.

Sutherland’s attorney, Jim Sullivan, confirmed he was aware of the request to dismiss the case involving Valade’s trust and another case involving a local educational foundation.

“He’s very pleased that these matters are behind us and that they’ve been resolved in this manner,” Sullivan said.

In June, a jury acquitted Sutherland of one count of racketeering and one count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more. Jurors could not agree on a second count of embezzlement and one count of defrauding a vulnerable adult of $100,000 or more. The jury deliberated for five days.

Prosecutors accused Sutherland in one case of taking millions from a 2009 life insurance trust Valade had set up and for which he was the fiduciary, and using the money to fund business investments and real estate ventures that are now worth millions less. Valade died in December 2022 at age 97.

“Gretchen Valade trusted him so much that she never doubted him for a moment,” Scott Teter, a staff attorney for the Michigan Attorney General, told the jury during his opening statement.

Sullivan, however, argued that his client, as trustee of the trust, had the authority to make loans, and that Valade supported investments intended to benefit the community rather than pursuing profit.

“It’s a terrible thing to be accused of a crime you didn’t commit. It’s even worse to be accused of a crime that never happened. That’s what happened here,” Sullivan told the jury during the trial.

Sutherland also has a second case based on allegations that he embezzled $1.4 million from the William Cardinal Foundation. The foundation supports St. Paul on the Lake Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Farms. Prosecutors have charged him with embezzling $100,000 or more.

The Public Prosecution Service has also filed a motion to dismiss the case.

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