Feds: Ex-CPS CEO 'fraudulently' steered $40M contract in Detroit
An FBI agent believed corrupt former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett worked to "fraudulently steer" a $40 million contract to one of the country's biggest educational publishers while she worked for the Detroit schools, according to records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The court documents also show federal law-enforcement authorities suspected two aides who later worked for CPS helped Byrd-Bennett to rig the bidding process in Detroit in favor of Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to steering $23 million in CPS contracts for The SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates, two North suburban education-consulting companies that employed her before she became Mayor Rahm Emanuel's schools chief in 2012.