A federal judge has granted an acquittal on two wire fraud charges against state Sen. Katrina Robinson but denied acquittal or a new trial on two remaining counts of wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman, in a ruling issued Jan. 6, said of the two counts acquitted that prosecutors offered a “weak argument.”

Robinson’s attorneys had filed the motion for a new trial or acquittal regarding the four counts on Oct. 8, 2021, following her September trial.

Jury finds Katrina Robinson guilty on four counts of wire fraud

In the motion, her attorneys argued that “the government created a mess in this case when they over-reached and charged Ms. Robinson with crimes, which they simply could not prove.”

Lipman, in her ruling, agreed on two of the counts, saying prosecutors offered “a weak argument for the existence of a scheme to defraud.”

“The Court agrees with Robinson. No rational juror could find that there was an underlying scheme to defraud related to counts 19 and 20,” Lipman wrote in the ruling.

But on the other two, Lipman denied the motion and said sufficient evidence was presented at trial to conclude Robinson committed wire fraud.

The two charges centered on Robinson using money from a federal grant meant for her nursing and health care school to pay $3,484 in wedding expenses for catering and a makeup artist for her wedding party.

Robinson argued she did nothing wrong and that her ex-husband repaid the money for the wedding expenses. She also argued her innocence throughout the trial, which ended Sept. 30 when the jury found her guilty of four of five counts of wire fraud.

Before the verdict, Lipman acquitted Robinson on 15 of 20 charges sought by federal prosecutors.

Robinson was indicted on a 48-count indictment, but the number of charges was reduced to 20 and the court found the government failed to prove its case on 15 of those charges.

Robinson, 40, who represents state Senate District 33, denied using federal grant money intended for her business, The Healthcare Institute, on personal expenses. She also denied fabricating students at the school.

Federal authorities allege Robinson misspent about $600,000 in federal grant funding on personal expenses. Robinson’s attorneys argued the government changed its theories mid-way through the trial.

In an emailed statement Friday, Jan. 7, Robinson responded to the ruling and the overall investigation. 

“For two years, I have endured this targeted attack from the federal government. In 2020, they showed up to my home with media in tow to conduct a search as well as raiding my businesses. The DOJ blasted to national media news a 48- count indictment with false and inflammatory allegations that I stole $600K in federal grant funds.

“Today, we are questioning an amount of $3,484.06 that has been interpreted as a crime to defraud my own business - a single-member LLC in 2016. The $3484.06 was NOT spent from federal funds and was not allocated to the grant in any accounting. The amount in question was ultimately paid for from personal funds,” Robinson said in the statement.

She added: “I am grateful that her honor reviewed the trial proceedings and partially granted our motion acquitting me of the two wire fraud charges stemming from data entry reports that were completed by former employees of my corporation. However, my legal team is still reviewing the order from the court in order to make decisions on our next steps, as we intend to continue to fight this case.”

A virtual hearing will be held Jan. 12 to discuss a possible date change for the sentencing hearing on the remaining two charges.