CHICAGO _ Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the disgraced former Chicago Public Schools CEO, was sentenced to 4 { years in prison Friday for scheming to pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in return for steering lucrative contracts to a consulting firm at a time CPS was struggling financially.
Byrd-Bennett, handpicked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lead the city's district in the wake of a 2012 teachers strike, pleaded guilty in October 2015 to steering more than $23 million in no-bid contracts to SUPES Academy _ where she had previously worked _ in return for kickbacks, other perks and a promise of a job once her time as district CEO ended.
Much of the prosecution case centered on emails sent between Byrd-Bennett and SUPES founder Gary Solomon that seemed to make no effort to conceal the kickback scheme. In one message, Byrd-Bennett even implied she needed cash because she had "tuition to pay and casinos to visit," according to the charges.
Prosecutors said she hired her friends at CPS and exploited her knowledge of the district to enrich herself and secure college and wedding funds for her twin grandsons. Byrd-Bennett "expected to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars" when she went back to work for SUPES after leaving CPS. Solomon and Vranas received payments of more than $2.9 million, the government said.
Prosecutors planned to ask for about 7 { years in prison for Bryd-Bennett _ although U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang was free to go above or below that recommendation. Her lawyers asked for a sentence of 3 { years behind bars.
Solomon, whom prosecutors called the "mastermind" of the bribery scheme, was sentenced last month to seven years in prison _ a decision he has appealed.
Byrd-Bennett's sentence came hours after co-defendant Thomas Vranas, a former co-owner of the SUPES education consulting firm, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the massive bribery scandal.
In handing down the sentence to Vranas, the judge said the scheme was worse than most acts of public corruption because it defrauded the city's cash-strapped educational system.
"This was a crime that erodes the public trust in Chicago's government," U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang said. "It's a crime that chips away at the foundation of public service."
Moments earlier, Vranas, 36, stood at the lectern and read a short statement to the court, apologizing to the schools, the students "and the citizens of Chicago" for all the harm he caused.
"What I did was wrong," Vranas said as his wife cried softly in the courtroom gallery with relatives and supporters, "I will regret it for the rest of my life."
Vranas, whose cooperation with the investigation was described by prosecutors Friday as "a breath of fresh air," pleaded guilty a year ago to a single count of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. Prosecutors had sought a 39-month prison term for Vranas, while his lawyer asked for probation.
In court Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Church said that Vranas played an important role as "the guy behind the scenes getting the work done," hiding money and making sure that Byrd-Bennett was taken care of with payoffs they expected to still be coming years in the future.
"He was all in, judge," Church said. "This wasn't a simple mistake or a one-time lapse in judgment. ... It was a willingness to defraud the Chicago Public Schools, its students, its teachers, its administrators, its parents, and the city of Chicago so that they could make millions."
Church said it was particularly egregious that Vranas knew that the public schools were struggling financially and chose to enrich himself anyway.
In arguing for probation, Vranas' attorneys, Michael Monico and Jacqueline Jacobson, noted that it was Vranas' truthful cooperation that allowed prosecutors to uncover the scope of a fraud that Byrd-Bennett initially lied about when confronted by FBI agents two years ago.
Jacobson said Vranas, who has no prior criminal history, was brought into the scheme by Solomon. The two had met when Vranas was a student at Niles West High School and Solomon was a teacher.
"(Vranas) wouldn't be here today but for his relationship with his mentor," Jacobson said. "He looked up to Gary very much, and Barbara Byrd-Bennett he thought she was a superstar."
Vranas and his attorneys left the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago without commenting to the news media in the lobby.
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty in October 2015 to a single federal count of wire fraud. Prosecutors said that although she initially lied to the FBI, Byrd-Bennett eventually provided what authorities described as "truthful information regarding other areas of interest" to the government and the school system's inspector general and also met with law enforcement from outside the Northern District of Illinois.
She will learn her fate as CPS struggles to avert insolvency and awaits a ruling _ also set to come down Friday afternoon in Cook County Chancery Court _ on a lawsuit filed in an effort to wrest more money from the state.
The Chicago Board of Education is seeking more than $65 million in damages and penalties in a lawsuit against Byrd-Bennett, Vranas, Solomon, SUPES Academy and another Solomon-owned firm called Synesi Associates.
Byrd-Bennett's case also has deepened what officials and observers sometimes describe as a "trust deficit" that CPS faces with the public it serves.
"I think she's a byproduct of a very flawed system," said Wendy Katten, of the Raise Your Hand parent advocacy group, which has long pushed the city to dump its current mayor-appointed school board for an elected body.
Katten plans to be in court for Byrd-Bennett's sentencing but doesn't see an opportunity for much closure.
"Yes, an individual did a bad thing, but the Board of Education was negligent in their role and should've cut off that long before they did. It shouldn't have taken a federal investigation to stop that," she said.
