Without Michael Haddle, federal and state investigators might not have uncovered more than Jeannette Garrison’s use of Medicare dollars to establish herself as a political power broker.

With his help, investigators and prosecutors learned much more. They learned that Garrison, Haddle’s boss, and two other top Healthmaster executives defrauded the federal government through elaborate strategies such as ghost employees, insurance price-fixing and outright embezzlement. Those investigators and prosecutors testified in December in U.S. District Court in Augusta.