Feds: CPS consultant made millions through 'corrupt process from beginning to end'
The executive at the center of a federal bribery scandal at Chicago Public Schools helped steer Barbara Byrd-Bennett into the district's top job and manipulated district procedures to secure a no-bid contract for his companies, federal prosecutors said in a filing this week.
In their response to a sentencing memo filed earlier this month by attorneys for Gary Solomon, prosecutors rejected pleas for leniency and said Solomon made millions of dollars in a case that "involved a corrupt process from beginning to end."
Solomon "may have comforted himself with the thought that he was not a governor or alderman or public official, but he profited far more handsomely than most convicted of public corruption offenses," prosecutors said. "The government agrees with Solomon that this is not a typical honest services bribery case. It is significantly worse."
Solomon, the co-owner of the SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates education consulting companies, pleaded guilty last year to a single count of wire fraud and admitted his role in a scheme to bribe Byrd-Bennett with a percentage of the value of contracts she helped secure for his firms. Prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence Solomon next week to nine years in prison.Feds: CPS consultant made millions through 'corrupt process from beginning to end' - Chicago Tribune:
