CHICAGO — The former head of Chicago Public Schools, Barbara Byrd-Bennett entered a guilty plea Tuesday to using her position to steer no-bid contracts to her former employer in exchange for the promise of kickbacks and bribes.
Byrd-Bennett entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud. The indictment unsealed last week included 23 federal counts against Byrd-Bennett and two others. The other counts against Byrd-Bennett were dropped by federal authorities.
In a written plea agreement, Byrd-Bennett admitted that she steered the contracts worth more than $23 million to two education-consulting firms for kickbacks, bribes, and a consulting job at one of the firms after her retirement. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, mandatory restitution, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from the offense, whichever is greater. Authorities are expected to ask for a reduced sentence due to her cooperation.
Byrd-Bennett’s arraignment during which she entered her plea was held Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang. Byrd-Bennett was indicted along with the co-owners of SUPES Academy, her former employer and the company she recommended receive no-bid contracts worth $23 million for principal training services. Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas will be arraigned Wednesday.
The federal government charged that Byrd-Bennett used her position as chief executive officer of the Chicago district to award the lucrative contracts to her former employers, The Supes Academy LC and Synesi Associates LLC.
In exchange, Byrd-Bennett, 66, expected “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks,” said Zachary Fardon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, at a press conference discussing the charges last week.
The two firms, which are based in the Chicago suburbs and specialize in training school administrators and principals, have also been charged.
The 23-count indictment is based in part on email exchanges between the former CEO and the heads of the two firms that seem to refer to various kickbacks.
The indictments charged that Byrd-Bennett was to get 10% of the value of the contracts as well as future employment, a signing bonus, trust accounts set up for two of her relatives, and received meals, tickets to sports events and other perks, Fardon said.
“In exchange Barbara Byrd-Bennett put her thumb on the contract award process at CPS,” Fardon said. The indictments say Byrd-Bennett deliberately misled other public officials at CPS and the Board of Education about whether she had any financial stake in the firms that won the contracts.
The indictment does not allege that any actual money changed hands. Byrd-Bennett had worked for the two firms as a consultant before she joined CPS in 2012.
She left CPS in June 2014, a month after she was placed on a leave of absence after it was disclosed that federal authorities were probing the contracts. In addition to the bribery and conspiracy charges, the indictment includes 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud.
The indictment adds to the negative headlines the junk-bond rated school district faces as it is pressing for nearly $500 million in state pension help to balance its books while warning of steep layoffs if lawmakers don’t cooperate.
