Ex-CEO of Missouri-based nonprofit admits using charity funds to pay Oklahoma lobbyist

OKLAHOMA CITY — The former CEO of a Missouri-based nonprofit corporation has admitted in a political corruption case to misusing the charity’s funds to pay a lobbyist in Oklahoma.

The lobbyist, former House Speaker Steve Lewis, is not accused in the federal criminal case of any wrongdoing himself. “I was surprised when I learned of the investigation,” he said Tuesday.

Lewis was paid $413,575 in misapplied funds between Sept. 29, 2008, and Aug. 29, 2017, according to the charge against the former CEO, Marilyn Luann Nolan, 68. She pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Missouri to a conspiracy offense involving the misuse of millions of dollars.

She was in charge of a nonprofit mental health care corporation based in Springfield, Missouri. The corporation offered services at dozens of clinics across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois before coming under investigation. Most of its funding comes from Medicaid reimbursements.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/courts/ex-ceo-of-missouri-based-nonprofit-admits-using-charity-funds/article_ec57ac62-912d-5fdb-ab59-7ccb44dd6a2c.html
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