An Astonishing Account Of Gulen Charter School Fraud
It's the press conference from a couple days ago--- the one where Robert Amsterdam highlights some of the themes of his complaint filed with the state auditor there about the Gulen (Concept) schools operating in that state.
It is in every way astonishing footage, and I say this as a person who has been tracking this issue for a few years now. It's a description of a fraud ring so massive and evasive that it I have no idea how these puny state governments are going to fight it.
The part that needs to be understood by my local readers is that this massive wave of Ohio fraud is being coordinated, to a great extent, in an office in Des Plaines, Illinois. We have no agency in this state, frankly, that has the chops to look at something on this scale. As for the charter school commission, they're a dysfunctional body, never intended to perform actual governance.
Amsterdam talks about a real estate scheme in Ohio where all of these related Gulen-linked parties perform a shell game to generate money for the Movement. Loans are made to cover insolvencies created by excessive rents. This is in addition to the visa fraud, which he puts at $3m in Ohio alone (that's taxpayer money used to apply for visas Turkish men, who come over and kick back part of their salary in a type of tithe to the Movement.)
The question and answer session at the end has some interesting tidbits in it. [It's a long press conference, so crank the volume and listen while you make dinner.]
Apparently there will be some revelations about Illinois coming out soon. A $40m gymnasium? Hm...
Speaking of gymnasiums.... has anyone else noticed that the fissures in the gym walls at Chicago Math and Science Academy are growing? I'm not an architect but I can tell you that something ain't right with those walls. Possibly they're just a superficial phenomenon but if they were growing on my gym, I'd call someone. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow on my way to work. Check it out, if you're driving by. What are those things?
It's all so interesting; I wish I could study it full time. Take that gym, for example. Taxpayers paid for it, ultimately. But who owns it?
Update: Did a little drive-by this morning. The fissures are cement patch-jobs on what appear to be cracked concrete panels. I'm not sure how concrete wall-construction works, but it TBFURMAN: An Astonishing Account Of Gulen Charter School Fraud: