I have been waiting for the sentencing of Nicholas Trombetta for years, ever since he was arrested for tax evasion after not reporting the millions of dollars he stole from his cyber charter, the first such in the state of Pennsylvania.
Steven Singer reports the sentencing here, and he is outraged that Trombetta got a slap on the wrist, as compared to the long jail sentences meted out to Atlanta teachers who changed test scores.
What Steven doesn’t understand is that Trombetta was sentenced for tax evasion, not for embezzlement of millions of dollars. Embezzlement of public funds was not an issue, although it should have been. Apparently it is okay to steal from the state as long as you report it on your tax returns. Some of the embezzlement occurred by setting up shell companies with which Trombetta did business with himself, using public money. Watch for the “related companies” when following the money.
Steven writes:
Nick Trombetta stole millions of dollars from Pennsylvania’s children.
And he cheated the federal government out of hundreds of thousands in taxes.
Yet at Tuesday’s sentencing, he got little more than a slap on the wrist – a handful of years in jail and a few fines.
He’ll serve 20 months in prison, be on supervised release for three years, and payback the tax money he concealed.
As CEO and founder of PA Cyber, the biggest virtual charter school network in the state, he funneled $8 million into his own pocket.
Instead of that money going to educate kids, he used it to buy a Florida condominium, sprawling real estate and even a private jet.
He already took home between $127,000 and $141,000 a year in salary.
But it wasn’t enough.
He needed to support his extravagant lifestyle, buy a $933,000 condo in the Sunshine State, score a $300,000 twin jet plane, purchase $180,000 houses for his mother and girlfriend in Ohio, and horde a pile of cash.
What does a man like that deserve for stealing from the most vulnerable among us – kids just asking for an education?
At very least, you’d think the judge would throw the book at him.
But no.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Pennsylvania just taught Trombetta that crime pays. In addition to jail time, he should be forced to repay the money he stole from Pennsylvania’s children. He should be forced to liquidate assets and make restitution to the commonwealth. This sentence is not commensurate with the crime.
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He steals $8 million and gets to keep it. He was tried for tax evasion, not theft.
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“Former Lyons Township School Treasurer Robert Healy has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $100,000 in school funds and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Healy entered the guilty plea Wednesday before Cook County Judge Arthur Hill in Chicago and was taken into custody. The Class X felony carries a sentence of 6 to 30 years.”
Why doesn’t Pennsylvania prosecute fraud and theft in charter schools? People who steal from public schools are prosecuted.
No one has been prosecuted in ECOT, either. The largest scandal in Ohio history and not one person in charter-land is going to held accountable?
Why is there a double standard?
I know ed reformers refuse to regulate Ohio and Pennsylvania charter schools but at least they could track the public money, or would that “stifle innovation” too much? What is the innovation? Creative bookkeeping?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/la-grange/news/ct-dlg-healy-plea-tl-0326-20150318-story.html
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Chiara,
You hit the nail on the head. Innovation consists of stealing public money and getting off scot free.
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Well, to understand it you would have to read ed reformers. They use a lot of nonsense business jargon- they are about “steering not rowing” or they are “tight/loose”.
They don’t seem to be about ordinary accounting standards, that’s for sure.
They’re “agnostic” on whether the fraud and theft statutes should be enforced, apparently.
People went to prison for Ohio’s last big scandal, and that involved half the cost of the ECOT debacle. They should get the 80 million back and put the architects of this theft in prison. If it was Columbus Public Schools and 80 million went missing there would have been a perp walk and Betsy DeVos would be scolding us on “government schools”.
Must be nice to be politically connected and untouchable.
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A young black man would get a stiffer sentence for stealing a purse, especially here in the south.
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There’s no justice under the law for charters and their operators because the wealthy back them. A charter-shilling organization that had Betsy DeVos as a Director owes Ohio $5 mil. in fines. Now, the DeVoses are spending to defeat Ohio’s candidate for governor, Cordray.
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The ruling class has always admired the criminal imagination and couldn’t care less for its victims.
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If white collar crime is not taken seriously, more shady types will try it. They should not walk away with millions.
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Obviously, the Judge is a Republican.
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White Collar criminals are treated differently.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/general/white-collar-criminals-treated-differently–labour-2010082617
White-collar criminals often avoid prison terms
“Barbara Bateman padded her salary with $11,000 she took from Allegheny County employees.
“Tammie Lazzara stole nearly $60,000 in fines from traffic tickets and citations from a North Hills judge’s office.
“Ira Johnson gambled away the $700,000 he stole from West Penn Allegheny Health System.
“All three were prosecuted and convicted within the past three years. Each was ordered to pay back the money they stole. None saw the inside of a jail cell.”
https://triblive.com/news/allegheny/5431279-74/collar-jail-criminals
“Why Elite White-Collar Criminals Are Rarely Punished”
“Given the tremendous attention that is given to street crime by politicians, law enforcement authorities, judges and the news/entertainment media, one would think that street crime is the costliest type of criminal activity in the U.S. That is simply not the case.
“In fact, white-collar crime such as embezzlement and stock manipulation is far more costly to society than blue-collar or street crime such as robbery. According to the FBI, the annual cost of street crime is $15 billion compared to nearly $1 trillion for white-collar crime.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201704/why-elite-white-collar-criminals-are-rarely-punished
Even if the evidence proves that the Kremlin’s Agent Orange, Donald Trump, is guilty of treason and other crimes, he will probably never serve a day in jail and even if he is kicked out of the White House, don’t expect him to lose his businesses or whatever alleged fortune he has. In fact, I expect that Trump already has a “Get out of Jail Free Card” and will be heavily compensated by the Koch brothers, their ALEC allies and Russia’s oligarchs for serving them well.
Wait for it. The day will come when Trump is paid six-figure incomes to lecture to Alt-Right audiences where he will sound just like he does on Twitter and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for spouting 4th-grade gibberish.
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I’ve always been appalled by the relative leniency white-collar criminals receive. Democrats should make this a campaign issue. It might motivate unregistered young black and Latino men to register and vote.
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