Thread by @AndreaEger

THREAD: State Auditor Cindy Byrd just dropped some bombshells about the investigation into ousted founders @EpicCharter during a speech in Tulsa.
tulsaworld.com/news/local/gov… #oklaed

First off, Byrd said neither Ben Harris and David Chaney nor their longtime CFO Josh Brock have been exonerated and the term of Oklahoma’s multicounty grand jury simply expired on Sept. 7, “before the case was finished.”

Still, Byrd said inaction by legislators or law enforcement or prosecutors in last 13 months since release of her investigative audit report left the door open for Harris and Chaney to “pocket” another $80 million for fiscal year 2021.

Next, Byrd made public some shocking new allegations that literally made people across a packed banquet room for a luncheon of a Tulsa GOP women’s group audibly gasp.

Byrd said Harris and Chaney’s company submitted “falsified” monthly invoices for payments by each of Epic’s two schools — Epic One-on-One, a statewide virtual school, and Epic Blended Learning Centers, which offer in-person learning for students in Tulsa and Oklahoma counties.

Byrd said the company was inexplicably invoicing Epic’s all-online school $600k a month for land rental and construction services and $37k a month for food service management — when those students learn at home.

And Epic spending records Byrd only recently won access to in court battle revealed David Chaney & Josh Brock used PERSONAL credit cards to make millions of $$ worth of purchases for students in their use of $145 million in taxpayer money swept into private company accounts.

Byrd wondered aloud whether Harris and Chaney have been able to avoid accountability by stepping up their political influencing efforts — campaign donations, lobbying elected officials and even philanthropic giving.

And Byrd said those influencing efforts included a calculated smear campaign to falsely paint her as biased against Epic’s non-traditional model.

END OF THREAD. For all of the Tulsa World’s coverage of the Epic Charter Schools investigation, scroll down to end of full story: tulsaworld.com/news/local/gov…