Charmaine Gatlin, a former top executive of the fundraising arm for Miami-Dade County’s public hospital system, pleaded guilty Thursday to bilking millions of dollars from the Jackson Health Foundation and spending the charity funds on luxury goods for herself.
Gatlin, 52, admitted in Miami federal court that as the Foundation’s chief operating officer she directed a wire-fraud conspiracy that entailed falsely billing her former employer between $3.5 million and $9 million for purported fund-raising events, according to her plea agreement. Court records say she executed the elaborate scheme with several Foundation vendors — including an Atlanta businessman who provided no services while kicking back $1 million to her
Gatlin, who was arrested in Georgia in May, was originally accused in an indictment of fleecing $3.6 million from the Foundation that supports the Jackson Health System, but the Miami Herald has learned from invoices obtained through a public records request that her fraudulent billing activity easily surpassed that figure.
Officials with Jackson Health System, which operates the county’s taxpayer-funded hospital network, declined to comment on the Foundation’s total financial loss because of the ongoing criminal case.
But in a statement, CEO Carlos Migoya said: “Today’s hearing is an important step towards justice being served. We are hopeful that those involved in committing these serious crimes will be held accountable to the full extent of the law.”
Gatlin, who was making $300,000 a year at the Foundation before she was fired last November after a decade-long tenure, now faces between four and seven years in prison after pleading guilty to the wire-fraud conspiracy charge before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom. Her abuse of the public’s trust, leadership role in the conspiracy and the sophisticated nature of her billing scheme will be factors in her sentencing. Other charges, including numerous wire fraud and money laundering counts, will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement signed by Gatlin, her defense attorney, David Howard, and Assisstant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young.
Her guilty plea follows that of an Atlanta businessman, who confessed in federal court last month that he falsely billed $2.1 million to the Jackson Health Foundation without providing any services — then kicked back half of his payments from the Foundation to Gatlin.
Yergan Jones, 63, president of an audiovisual company, pleaded guilty to conspiring with the Gatlin by falsifying dozens of invoices for purported fundraising events between 2019 and 2024. Gatlin came to know Jones when they had worked on charitable projects in Atlanta for her former employer there before she was hired by the Foundation in 2014.
Yergan Jones, CEO of American Sound Design and AEE Productions
In a plea deal, Jones now faces between two and three years in prison and has agreed to pay back the $2.1 million that he fraudulently received from the Foundation. He also faces a forfeiture judgment of $1 million, which accounts for half of the payments that he and his company, American Sound Design, kept after being paid by the fundraising entity for supposed events benefitting Jackson Health System. It’s unclear how many of the events actually took place.
Before Jackson Health System officials learned of the alleged scheme, Gatlin was well on her way to becoming its top executive, the Herald reported.
But last October, she was put on paid administrative leave while an internal investigation “related to potential misconduct” got underway. In early November, she was “terminated for cause” by the Foundation’s chairman. Her termination letter, obtained by the Herald, did not elaborate.
Former COO of Jackson Health Foundation Charmaine Gatlin arrives for a plea hearing at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida, Thursday, September 11, 2025.
Jackson officials alerted the FBI and federal prosecutors.
In May, Gatlin was arrested on charges of defrauding her former employer, including fabricating fake invoices from vendors such as Jones and receiving kickbacks from them. Gatlin was accused of authorizing Jackson Health Foundation funds to pay not only Jones’ audiovisual company in Atlanta but also a Miami-Dade merchandise company that sold designer goods and a Broward event planning company that created videos, a website and other services for a Gatlin family member’s softball team, her indictment says. Gatlin was also accused of using the Foundation’s money to buy school supplies that were delivered to a religious organization in Riceboro, Georgia, where she lives with her husband.
Court records show she used the money to buy designer goods, including a Louis Vuitton bag for $4,350 and Gucci Tennis 1977 sneakers for $820. She also had a $15,617 rose gold golf cart delivered to her Weston home.
Her billing scheme, however, extended well beyond local vendors in South Florida, according to the indictment and other court records.
The indictment alleges Jones’ company, American Sound Design, submitted invoices to Gatlin that were for “audiovisual services that did not occur” at Jackson Health System or the Foundation. Instead, those services were provided by his company to a civic organization in Atlanta, the indictment says. The Herald confirmed that the organization is 100 Black Men of America, with chapters nationwide including South Florida. Gatlin had worked there as an executive before she was hired at the Foundation in 2014.
“At times, Charmain Gatlin instructed [Jones] how to falsify invoices to the Foundation for services ASD did not provide,” according to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement signed by him, defense lawyer Hector Flores and Young, the prosecutor.
For example, on Jan. 7, 2024, Jones emailed Gatlin’s personal email with a draft invoice for an alleged “add on” extending audiovisual equipment at the Jackson “Holiday Parties” two “additional days” for a total of $50,172.50, the statement says. The following day, Gatlin responded: “Get to $58,477. When you email it over ask for the status of the payment.”
On Jan. 16, 2024, Gatlin wired that same amount to the bank account of Jones’ company, ASD, which did not provide the invoiced audiovisual services at Jackson or the Foundation, according to the statement. Two days later, Jones wired a kickback of about $25,000 to Gatilin’s personal bank account — then, Jones made a $20,000 payment on his American Express card using the Jackson funds.
In other instances, “to conceal the kickbacks, Charmaine Gatlin sent [Jones] false invoices making it appear as though she was consulting for” his company, American Sound Design, the statement says.
On Jan. 31, 2021, for example, Gatlin emailed Jones the following false invoices: Jackson Rehab Ribbon Cutting ($29,625); MTI 50th Anniversary/Jungle Island ($21,625); Virtual Conference Jackson Residents ($26,215), and Jackson Covid Media Village ($43,562.50).
“These payments were kickbacks to Charmaine Gatlin for paying [Amercian Sound Design] via the Foundation,” the statement says.
Also, “on at least one occasion, Jones provided services to [100 Black Men of America], but Jones and Gatlin made it appear on the invoice as though the services were being provided to the Foundation,” says a charging document filed against Jones, which didn’t include details.
In a statement, the 100 Black Men of America said it was not aware of Gatlin’s alleged kickback scheme with Jones and his audiovisual company, including billing the Jackson Health Foundation for services that his firm instead provided to the Atlanta organization.
Jones provided those services to the youth mentoring group for its annual conferences between 2019 and 2024 under a different audiovisual company, American Electronic Entertainment, 100 Black Men of America confirmed.
In fact, 100 Black Men of America said it directly paid Jones’ company more than $500,000 for his work, but the organization did not provide details of the payments.
“100 Black Men of America, Inc. has no knowledge of Ms. Gatlin’s alleged receipt of cash payments or fraudulent invoices being submitted by Ms. Gatlin or any other vendors in the indictment involving Jackson Health Foundation,” the organization said in the statement provided to the Herald, adding that “Gatlin has never been paid by the 100 BMOA as a ‘go-between’ to then pay vendors for services provided to 100 BMOA.”
Gatlin had worked for 100 Black Men of America from 2009 to 2014 before Jackson’s Foundation hired her a decade ago. During her tenure at Jackson, she continued to work with the Atlanta organization as an unpaid volunteer. After the Foundation dismissed Gatlin last November, 100 Black Men of America hired her in January as a contractor for its annual conference in 2025 — but fired her in May when the organization said it learned about her indictment.
“We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so until this matter is concluded,” the organization said.
