BY ANA JONES
CCN Staff Writer
KENT COUNTY (CCN) — A stunning indictment came down Wednesday (Jan. 28, 2026) as Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Charlie LeDuff was doing his weekly podcast heard by more than 50,000 listeners across Michigan.
LeDuff's three-year fight for justice culminated with a criminal indictment by a prosecutor in Kent
BY ANA JONES
CCN Staff Writer
KENT COUNTY (CCN) — A stunning indictment came down Wednesday (Jan. 28, 2026) as Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Charlie LeDuff was doing his weekly podcast heard by more than 50,000 listeners across Michigan.
LeDuff's three-year fight for justice culminated with a criminal indictment by a prosecutor in Kent County. It came months after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel ignored an embezzlement and abuse case involving an elderly woman against a former State Democrat Party official, Tracy Kornack who served in a high-profile position as the Treasurer.
The lawyer from the west side of the state is described by journalist LeDuff and GOP politicians in Lansing as a close friend of both AG Nessel and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, both fellow Democrats.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker's office notified LeDuff during Wednesday's filming of his podcast that he had authorized felony charges of embezzlement against a vulnerable adult.
A news release from Prosecutor Becker's office said Kornack was charged with three felony counts. Two were for embezzlement and one was for false pretenses.
Belmont attorney Kornak was not charged with any of the abuse allegations outlined in front of the State House Oversight Committee. Evidence from the AG's office was presented during a nearly three-hour hearing in mid-December.
Nessel had declined to prosecute the case.
LeDuff's attention since 2022 on the alleged abuse and theft case eventually landed it before the House State Oversight Committee in the state legislature, leading to the charges despite Nessel doing nothing to her friend who allegedly stole thousands of dollars from the late Roseene Burd who she had authority over as a court-appointed guardian over the wealthy woman's care and finances. The elderly woman's hand-written note to a probate court employee was described as “a cry for help” over her concerns that her guardian was mishandling her finances.
Burd passed away last April at age 89.
Guardians are appointed by probate court judges in Michigan.
CCN has been investigating alleged widespread theft in probate court cases across our state as part of a series for its national program known as The America Crusaders.
An indictment was reported last week as "looming" by The Detroit News against a Detroit judge over $550,000 missing from one elderly person's bank account. CCN has discovered allegations about dozens of other cases across the state where judges and their conspirators have combined to steal thousands of dollars from unsuspecting elderly people who come under the controls of the probate system.
Probate judges often answer to nobody, and it's a problem that has caught the attention of Senator Ruth Johnson of Groveland Township.
Katie Steffes, a Grandville attorney whose practice is focused on probate, family and civil law and who has been representing Kornak in an ongoing investigation of her conservatorship in Allegan County Probate Court, did not immediately return a phone message Jan. 28 seeking comment. In Michigan, conservators are appointed by probate judges.
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating why Nessel's office closed an investigation into Kornak in 2022 without taking any action after allegations were raised in a column in The Detroit News about alleged improper billings by Kornak related to an insurance company and an assisted living facility. The committee held a hearing related to Kornak and Nessel as recently as Jan. 27.
Jay DeBower, chairman of the state’s House Oversight Committee that investigated in mid-December why a conflict-of-interest involving Nessel was allowed to stand, has said Nessel belongs in prison for covering up her friend's criminal actions in the case.
Kornack even served on Nessel’s transition team when she was first elected to office.
Burd died in April 2025 and LeDuff now says justice for the family is a prison sentence for Kormack and prison for Nessel. When asked when he thought Nessel might be indicted, LeDuff told CCN, "Patience."
LeDuff is the host of the No BS News Hour, an independent podcast based in Detroit.
He also works for an online publication known as The Michigan Enjoyer.
LeDuff is a Detroit area native who won a Pulitzer Prize at the New York Times, then returned home to work for the Detroit Free Pres s and Detroit News in addition to becoming an Emmy Award winning television reporter with Fox 2 Detroit.
He most recently left the Detroit News when fired in October 2023 as a columnist. The incident included an incident when AG Nessel was mentioned in a tweet by LeDuff who was promoting an upcoming Tuesday column. He used a vulgar, coded phrase aimed at her, saying, “See you next Tuesday” a backronym teens use for the word “c**t.”
PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is a photo of journalist Charlie LeDuff.
BY CRYSTAL BLAIR
Michigan News Connection Staff Writer
(PNS) — Millions of Americans with serious health conditions relied on the credits for affordable health insurance.
Victoria Sylvester, a small business owner and cancer survivor in Traverse City, is one of them.
"As somebody that really absolutely has to have health care, has to have ins
BY CRYSTAL BLAIR
Michigan News Connection Staff Writer
(PNS) — Millions of Americans with serious health conditions relied on the credits for affordable health insurance.
Victoria Sylvester, a small business owner and cancer survivor in Traverse City, is one of them.
"As somebody that really absolutely has to have health care, has to have insurance, it's very stressful to think that I may lose my insurance or have terribly high premiums," Sylvester explained. "I already had an increase in my deductible."
Those who back the cuts warned continuing expanded credits indefinitely could strain the federal budget and crowd out funding for other priorities.
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