GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Traci Kornak, the former treasurer for the state Democratic Party, has been criminally charged with embezzlement by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office.

Kornak was the court-appointed conservator of an elderly woman who was mentally challenged and is accused of taking financial advantage of her. An accounting firm found as much as $419,640 in questionable charges by Kornak during her duties as a conservator. Rose Burd, the elderly woman under Kornak’s watch, died in April 2025.

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Kornak is at the center of a controversy because she is an ally of Attorney General Dana Nessel and also served on Nessel’s transition team. The AG’s office closed Kornak’s case without any charges.

A House Oversight Committee has been highly critical of the Attorney General’s handling of the investigation of Kornak.

“The Attorney General’s Office is one of two things. It is either wholly incompetent or it is corrupt,” said Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township).

In an October 2023 letter sent to the Detroit News protesting the article, Nessel’s office wrote, “Of the investigation into Traci Kornak, no criminal wrongdoing was found by the Department’s investigation. Two separate divisions investigated the matter, the Financial Crimes Division and the Health Care Fraud Division. By the time the reports were delivered to the Attorney General, all investigative action was completed, and the investigation was concluded. … A critical component to the closing of the investigation was a lack of cooperating complainant.”

Efforts to reach Kornak at her business phone number were not successful.