Democratic Michigan House of Representatives candidate Jennifer Suidan has been accused of embezzling at least $100,000 from a fellow Democratic candidate during her time employed at a Southfield, Michigan-based law firm.
Suidan is running for Michigan House District 39 in Oakland County, just outside of Detroit. She is facing Republican Ryan Berman and libertarian Anthony Croff in the general election.
Fox News reports that on Monday, Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner leveled the allegations of “misappropriated money” against Suidan, who was working as his re-election campaign committee’s record keeper while employed at local law firm Goodman Acker.
In a statement released on Twitter, he said that Suidan “has betrayed my trust and the trust of all who expected her to perform her duties honestly and in compliance with the law.”
Meisner, who had previously endorsed Suidan’s candidacy for the Michigan legislature, has stated that he will no longer support her candidacy.
Local station Fox2 reports that the Michigan Democratic Party released a statement denouncing Suidan and called her to step aside from the campaign.
“The allegations against Jennifer Suidan are serious, and the only appropriate response is for her to suspend her campaign and we expect her to do so immediately,” they said. “These allegations have no impact or connection to the rest of our candidates and we remain focused on the issues that matter to Michigan families.”
Goodman Acker also denounced Suidan and seemingly confirmed the allegations that she embezzled funds over a period of six months while she was in their employ.
Neither Suidan nor her campaign has released a statement regarding the accusations at this time, but her Facebook and Twitter accounts have been either deleted or placed in private.