The heiress to the Carhartt clothing fortune who died in December at age 97 was swindled out of $7.2 million by a lawyer
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A lawyer for the late Carhartt clothing company heiress appeared in court in Detroit on charges of defrauding the much-loved philanthropist and jazz aficionado out of at least $21 million.
David Sutherland, 57, worked as a “trusted adviser” to Gretchen Carthartt Valade, the Michigan attorney general said.
He died on December 30, at the age of 97.
Sutherland, from 2017 until his death, “used the resources of his law practice, exploited his position of authority to embezzle a client’s irrevocable trust, simultaneously serving as lender, borrower, attorney, and trustee over money he took from the trust account.” your customer”. according to court documents.
Gretchen Carhartt Valade died at the age of 97 on December 30. Her lawyer has now been charged with embezzlement.
David Sutherland, Valade’s attorney, was charged on January 4 with fraud and is pictured during a January 11 arraignment attended by Valade’s son, Carhartt CEO Mark Valade.
Sutherland was removed as a trustee of the Valade trust in 2020.
A year later, he was accused of having loaned himself more than $7.7 million from the trust and of lending an additional $7.6 million to a business in which he was the majority owner.
Following his death, Sutherland was indicted on January 4 with four additional counts: two counts of embezzlement of $100,000 each; one count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of $100,000 or more; and one count of conducting criminal enterprises.
The charges are believed to be related to a $5 million “loan” that prosecutors say Sutherland lobbied Valade to approve, and an additional $2.7 million, with those sums totaling $21 million.
Judge Charles Berschback, who presided over a January 11 hearing in which Sutherland was released on $250,000 cash or bond, told him that “the amount that is alleged is staggering.”
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, said the case was a reflection of how many seniors are being taken advantage of.
“Mr. Sutherland abused his authority as a trusted attorney and adviser to steal millions from a long-time client and he must be held accountable,” he said.
“Our senior populations are particularly susceptible to financial exploitation, and my Financial Crimes Division is prepared to hold these bad actors accountable for such egregious and illegal violations of their clients’ trust.”
Judge Charles Berschback called the sums of money involved “staggering”
Sutherland is seen in court on January 11. He is scheduled for another hearing on January 25, and his lawyer says he hopes his client is acquitted.
Special Agent Doug Sharp, an investigator with Nessel’s office, told the court that maintenance workers at Valade’s home and her health care assistants saw Sutherland pressuring her to sign documents.
Valade was known as the ‘Angel of Jazz’ for her philanthropy in the arts and her music businesses.
“As a 97-year-old individual with limited mobility and diminishing business acumen, Ms. Valade was susceptible,” Sharp testified.
Valade’s son, Mark, the CEO of the family business, was in court to see Sutherland arraigned.
Ron Fournier, the family spokesman, said the Valade family appreciates the efforts of Nessel’s office to investigate Sutherland’s conduct.
“They trust the legal process and are optimistic that justice will prevail and that no other member of our community will be victimized by Mr. Sutherland,” she said.
Sutherland’s attorney, James Sullivan, said Nessel’s office has not yet determined all the facts and believes his client will be exonerated. The Detroit Free Press informed.
Sullivan said the court documents showed “a small fraction of the whole story.”
He added: “I think once the whole story is told, when people hear it, there will be a very different climate and attitude towards this, and for him, my client, than there is now.”
Valade’s grandfather, Hamilton Carhartt, founded the clothing company in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1899.
Hamilton Carhartt founded the workwear company in Dearborn, Michigan in 1899. It is still headquartered in Detroit, remains family-owned and operated, and employs about 5,500 people.
Valade built this house 100 miles north of Detroit on the shores of Lake Huron in 2000. He sold it in 2010.
Valade is seen in March 2005 at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit, with the president of his record label Mack Avenue Records, Tom Robinson. The photo shoot was to announce Valade’s label sponsoring the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Today the family is esteemed by Forbes worth $1.2 billion.
Valade has served on Carhartt’s board since 1958 and was named chairman of the board in 1998 after the death of her husband, company president Robert Valade.
Two years later he built an impressive stone and cedar mansion located on 17 acres on the shores of Lake Huron, in Deckerville, 100 miles north of his main home at Grosse Pointe Farms.
Grosse Pointe Farms is known for its elegant mansions and for being home to the heirs of Ford and Dodge.
Valade sold the lakeside mansion around 2010 and died in his suburban home.
Valade was known as the ‘Angel of Jazz’, thanks to her passion for music and her generous philanthropy.
He established a foundation that enabled the Detroit Jazz Festival to become the largest free jazz festival in the world, and made donations to jazz studios and performances at Wayne State University totaling $9.5 million.
Valade appears at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe with her granddaughter (on the right), who is named after her.
He also funded the redevelopment of the university’s performance space, which now bears his name.
At the age of 74, he founded the jazz label Mack Avenue Records, which has subsequently garnered 11 Grammy Awards and more than 50 nominations.
And at 82, he opened the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, an award-winning jazz and dining club in Grosse Pointe Farms.
She also owned another cafe, a coffee shop, and a women’s clothing and shoe store.
“I prefer not to get bored,” he once explained.
‘I wanted to spend my time surrounded by things important to me, my family, my passions, my joys and my community.
“And for me, being busy is a big part of a long life.”