The former leader of Family Foundations Academy was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for embezzlement. He confessed that he was suffering from “‘a severe level of sexual addiction and shopping addiction.’” Yeah, that’s a pretty good reason for embezzlement of public funds.
It is almost as good as my favorite from the founder of the Lion of Judah Charter School in Cleveland, who was indicted for diverting $1.2 million to his personal businesses and was ordered to pay restitution of $195,000. His lawyer said it wasn’t right to blame him because he saw easy opportunities to make money and he got greedy.
Excuses, excuses! Greed, shopping addiction!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good grief. No one forced Moore to steal.
Moore’s lawyer is WRONG. This is what makes me disgusted with the legal system in this country.
There is a difference between “Justice & Law” just as there is a difference between “Morality & Religion.”
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Disturbing yet hilarious. What theatre! I laughed. I cried.
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Embezzlement of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in an opaque, private sector corporate charter school came with an 18-month sentence.
But when a teacher or employee in a transparent, community-based, democratic, non-profit, unionized public school is found guilty of embezzlement ($12k or $30k … it’s not as easy to steal huge sums of money in a transparent school), they could face up to 10-years in prison.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/21/michigan-teacher-accused-embezzling-more-than-30k-from-school-and-gambling-it-away.html
When it comes to crime, there is a double standard between corporate charters and traditional public schools.
For instance, when answers were changed on tests in Washington DCs schools under Michelle Rhee, no one went to jail. When answers were changed on tests in a public school district in another state, the teachers and administrators found guilty were sent to prison for several years.
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Lloyd, not to mention the teachers who were sent to jail for a test cheating scandal – but not Her MagestRhee.
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When the public sector becomes privatized, its owners take on the Enron mentality, the mortgage swap mentality, the BP broken pipeline mentality. The executives get bailouts and/or golden parachutes; the smaller stockholders, the homeowners, the employees… the rest of us take a bath and take the blame. Crime is a built in feature of privatization, its most salient feature.
The Court said corporations are people. Even if that’s so, those “people” completely lack ethics. Just look at how greedy and mean spirited the big players are: Loeb, Koch, Rhee, Moskowitz, Zuckerberg, Broad… They are not attacking education; they’re $tealing it.
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How interesting that a leader from a school that calls itself Family Foundations Academy confessed to “‘a severe level of sexual addiction and shopping addiction.’” I know we are but humans, but it seems more and more those who are the most “Godly” are the most depraved.
We are in a cold civil war – I heard that today on the news. The real news. I hope we can straighten ourselves out before it gets worse.
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Has anyone ever compiled the list of charter/privatization hucksters who have been caught and convicted of fraud and malfeasance (as opposed to the hucksters who haven’t)?
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As a followup to GregB This is another opportunity for a book on charter fraud and quackery—A roundup of these cases, state by state. Given the number of cases, the choices among the worst of the worst could be difficult. I guess a liability lawyer would have to be part of the effort. If you want a medical version of fakes, frauds, and quackery, read A Brief History Of The Worst Ways To Cure Everything.” by Dr. Lidia Kang, M.D. and co-author Nate Pedersen, A Librarian, Historian And Freelance Journalist—more from Dr. Kang is on a recent C-Span Book TV program.
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You’d think Ohio would get a clue about fixing their charter law, when law-breakers’ lawyers point out the “easy ways to make money” created by their law.
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Looks like we’ll have to start building a new raft of Charter Prisons for Charter School Criminals.
“No Excuses Prisons” sounds like a catchy tag …
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And it still goes on. No accountability for the Devos charter school rip offs. The money will never be brought back and the kids are hurt. great administration we have in the WH.
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It does not matter how much Charter School corruption is exposed. There is an illusion that it is an aberration that will be dealt with by the Judicial system. If after the orgy of greed and theft on Wall Street ,one that continues to today with no one paying the price, there is not enough outrage to force real change . I suspect it is highly unlikely this small time greed will move the needle .
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Joel,
It matters that these stories of charter corruption are told. Public support for charters dropped by 11% in one year, the one just past. The mask is slipping.
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Fatallah Gulen isn’t following the rules either! The web of the safety net is shredding and people who don’t respect social justice, equity, or even have empathy and compassion for kids are taking advantage.
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What if he had robbed a bank of $1.2 million? Why should the punishment be different??
>
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The wealthy, mostly white collar criminals, often end up with shorter sentences or none because they can afford to hire the best lawyers.
The legal system favors those who have the most money and harshly punishes the rest of us that are not rich and powerful.
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