Former Milwaukee County Register of Deeds John La Fave, who retired abruptly last week, is under investigation for fraudulent dealings worth more than $2.8 million with two county contractors dating back to 2009, according to newly released federal court documents.

Investigators say La Fave engaged in a scheme to create false invoices worth more than $2.3 million with Superior Support Resources, a Brookfield-based internet service provider, for work that wasn't actually done, an affidavit in support of search warrants says.

La Fave is also accused of engineering a second scheme with another firm, Iowa-based Fidlar Technologies, so it would set aside funds due Milwaukee County and make them available for the register of deed's use, the affidavit says.

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One Fidlar staffer told authorities that La Fave "was very open about what he was doing in terms of holding back the monies from Milwaukee County and spending them on his own projects." She estimated that La Fave had at least $500,000 in "credit" with the company at one point.

La Fave's attorney, Michael Maistelman, said he had no comment on the investigation. La Fave, a Democrat, became register of deeds in 2003.

"The Wisconsin Supreme Court rules preclude us from commenting on an ongoing matter," Maistelman said.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele issued a stinging statement.

"On behalf of the people of Milwaukee, I'm angry at what was not just a theft of public resources, but a betrayal of public trust," Abele said. "The many incredible public servants I get to work with at the county work hard every day to provide the best service we can, make the most responsible use of public dollars and take pride in doing that very well."

Ernest Riggen, owner of Fidlar, said his company treated La Fave and his agency as it does any number of other jurisdictions. He said Fidlar has done nothing wrong. "It's not a scheme, and it's all above board," Riggen said Tuesday.

Sarit Singhal, president and CEO of Superior Support Resources, also said he believes his firm has nothing to hide.

“We are cooperating fully with the authorities and plan to continue that cooperation," Singhai said in a statement. "We are confident we have not done anything improper, and we are performing an internal investigation to verify as such. At this point, we have not seen anything that is of concern."

FBI raid of La Fave office

In early February, FBI officials raided La Fave's office, which is responsible for keeping real estate documents and certified copies of birth, death and marriage records. The agents took documents and computers from the agency.

La Fave, 69, has been silent about the investigation. But last week, he announced that he would be stepping down April 12.

"It has always been my intention to retire before my 70th birthday," the embattled official said in a statement. He said it has been well-known for a while that he would not finish his term. He and his wife sold their house in late February and have been renting a house since then. La Fave said he plans to move to Florida.

La Fave, who is probably best known for his advocacy of transcendental meditation, has been the county's register of deeds for 16 years — a position that usually brings little controversy or attention. He previously served in the Legislature for a decade.

Gov. Tony Evers will appoint La Fave's replacement.

According to a federal warrant, FBI agents seized computers, accounting folders, third-party invoices and other paperwork from Superior Support Resources on Feb. 6. Agents raided La Fave's office the same day.

'Evidence of a crime'

Robert Stelter, an investigator with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, filed an application with the U.S. District Court for a search warrant of Superior Support Resources on Feb. 5, a day before the raid.

In his application, he submitted a 33-page affidavit outlining the reasons that he believed the company possessed "evidence of a crime." Stelter said a Milwaukee County auditor, Matthew Hart, had been tracking La Fave's activities for several years.

Among the items that Stelter asked to seize were any documents showing payments for hotels, airfare, massages, meals and other expenses for La Fave, his staffers and their families.

The affidavit says La Fave would request that an employee at Superior Support draft and submit fake invoices to the register of deeds, who would then instruct staff to pay the company for work it had not actually done.

Stelter said Superior Support would then hold onto the money in a special account for La Fave's use. The affidavit says La Fave would then use that cash to pay third-party vendors. Beginning in 2014, the affidavit says, La Fave would ask Superior Support to empty the special account by the end of the year so no budgeted funds would go back to Milwaukee County.

La Fave told Milwaukee County officials that "no other company could provide the services" that Superior Support was giving to his office.

"In a review of county records, including emails and invoices, (auditor) Hart determined that this false invoice scheme had begun in 2010 and continued through 2017 and the payments to SSR for the false invoices was $2,333,069.81 for that time period," Stelter says in the affidavit.

Stelter said it was his conclusion that La Fave "carried on a similar scheme with Fidlar," directing the company to set aside money generated from the county contract as credits for his use.

He then had Fidlar spend that extra money "for other services from Fidlar outside of the Milwaukee County procurement rules." Fidlar then sent invoices directly to La Fave when it spent money out of this special account.

What's more, Stelter said, La Fave had his deals with Fidlar described as "agreements" and not contracts so they would not receive the scrutiny of other Milwaukee County officials.

A Fidlar staffer, Ellen Arguellez, told Stelter that the company had been setting aside these credits for La Fave's use before she began working for Fidlar in 2013.

"Milwaukee County was one of the largest contracts that Fidlar had, and she had been told in no uncertain terms that what John La Fave wanted, John La Fave got," Stelter wrote in his affidavit. Stelter quoted Arguellez again: "On occasion, the (false) invoices had been accidentally forwarded to Milwaukee County accounts receivable and La Fave would be very upset."

Arguellez said La Fave once told her that he had $900,000 in credit with Superior Support Resources. She said he had as much as $500,000 in credit with Fidlar.

Riggen, the owner of Fidlar, said he did not know Arguellez but that the company treated La Fave's office in the same way it did every other agency with which it had contracts.

Each time a member of the public uses his firm's search engines, Laredo and Tapestry, for searching county property records, it creates a credit for the government entity, Riggen said. The agency can have Fidlar use the credits to pay its Fidlar bills or returned as cash in a check.

That is what occurred with La Fave and the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds Office, Riggen said. He was unaware of any "agreements" his company had with La Fave's office.

County records show that La Fave's office has three contracts with Fidlar for $285,295 this year to oversee its online platform for land records. Since 1999, Milwaukee County has paid the firm and its affiliates more than $2.6 million, according to county data.

Since 2013, La Fave has taken $1,364 in freebies, mostly tickets to Milwaukee Brewers-Chicago Cubs games, from Fidlar officials, according to his personal ethics statements.