Ex-CEO of Chicago schools will plead guilty to corruption

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett is set to make her first court appearance on Tuesday on charges that she attempted to steer more than $20 million in no-bid contracts to her former employers in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks.

The federal indictment of Barbara Byrd-Bennett…

The Sun-Times has more of Byrd-Bennett’s emails, in which she repeatedly tells aides that she is concerned about City Hall questioning her authority.

“I can not be second-guessed like this”, Byrd-Bennett wrote to Emanuel’s then-top education aide, Beth Swanson, days before the Chicago Board of Education approved a $20.5 million no-bid contract to SUPES in June 2013.

The indictment alleges the companies agreed to hide the kickback money by funneling it into accounts set up in the names of two of Byrd-Bennett’s relatives. It’s alleged the ruse started that same year. Byrd-Bennett got a 10% kickback according to the prosecutor.

The co-accused are the companies’ owners, Gary Soloman, 47, and Thomas Vranas, 33. Vranas is quoted in one saying, “Everyone sucks and is greedy”.

Both suburban Chicago men are charged with bribery and conspiracy to defraud, along with mail and wire fraud. The Justice Department says the companies specialize in training school administrators and principals. An agreement called for the funds to be paid to Byrd-Bennett in the form of a “signing bonus” after her employment with CPS ended and the companies re-hired her as a consultant, officials said.

The federal investigation followed a tough re-election bid for Emanuel, who spent much of his time on the campaign trail defending his decisions to close dozens of schools in 2013 and to choose Byrd-Bennett to lead the district with an annual salary was $250,000. At the moment, Emanuel said he was at passionate about his the selection of the ByrdovervallenBennett.