Epic Charter Schools

[Pete]

There was a hearing on Monday.

I've followed enough white-collar crime cases to know this means there are plea bargain negotiations in progress.

Given the charges and the renewed interest by our new Attorney General (Drummond), I'm sure it's just a matter of how much prison time and the exact amount of restitution for each of the three defendants (Harris, Chaney and Brock); there is no way these guys skate and it's rare cases like this go to trial:

03-20-2023 CTFREE
JUDGE GLIDEWELL: THE DEFENDANTS APPEARANCE EXCUSED WITH ATTORNEY GARY WOOD / AMBER MARTIN. THE STATE APPEARS BY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL JIMMY HARMON. THE PRELIMINARY HEARING CONFERENCE IS CONTINUED TO 5/16/23 AT 9:00 AM BEFORE JUDGE GLIDEWELL FOR FURTHER NEGOTIATION, BY AGREEMENT. DISCOVERY PRODUCTION HAS BEGUN AND IS CONTINUING. STRIKE PHC FOR ALL DEFENDANTS SET ON 3/22/23 AT 9:00 AM. COURT REPORTER WAIVED.

[Midtowner]

There was a hearing on Monday.

I've followed enough white-collar crime cases to know this means there are plea bargain negotiations in progress.

Given the charges and the renewed interest by our new Attorney General (Drummond), I'm sure it's just a matter of how much prison time and the exact amount of restitution for each of the three defendants (Harris, Chaney and Brock); there is no way these guys skate and it's rare cases like this go to trial:

It doesn't necessarily mean anything. I've negotiated enough white collar crime cases to know that this really means nothing other than that potentially, they're kicking the can down the road a bit. Defendants are rarely excited to move things along and the State isn't necessarily interested in turning up the pressure to do anything because they haven't pushed for preliminary hearings nor have they asked the Defendants to waive prelims for further continuances. I wouldn't read much into it at all. It doesn't tell me that the A.G. isn't taking it seriously, I can tell you it's going to be a complicated preliminary hearing.

[Pete]

Drummond has been very public about wanting to prosecute the people involved to the fullest extent of the law.

At least some of this is political as Drummond seems to be attacking Stitt on several fronts, claiming the previous AG was doing Stitt's bidding especially when cases like this and the Swadley's mess at minimum indirectly involved the governor.

It also seems like Drummond is trying to set himself up as a candidate for governor after Stitt reaches his term limit in a few years.

In terms of the slowness, a big part of that was the AG office taking back this case only recently and I'm sure they have been busy trying to get up to speed. And Drummond seems to have a lot riding on the outcome.

Typically what happens in these high-profile cases is that the defendants get hit with an avalanche of charges and then the government hammers them hard to plead down to what still amounts to tough sentences, but better than what they would receive if they wanted to press for exoneration. Only a tiny percentage of these cases ever see a jury trial.

Bottom line: you never want to be a defendant when the state or federal government fully focuses their ample resources against you.

[Midtowner]

I will be very surprised if any of the Epic folks do a day in jail. In Oklahoma, wealthy and influential people do not go to prison for little things like defrauding [allegedly] the government. Expect the Epic principals to express their enthusiastic support for Drummond with Drummond receiving tens, maybe hundreds of thousands in political support from them and for this entire prosecutition to die a quiet death.

I could be wrong, but this is sort of how Oklahoma rolls. These guys are simply too big to jail.

[Pete]

^

In this case, Drummond is smart enough to know that he'll gain much more towards his political ambitions by sending those guys to jail.

That's publicity and esteem no amount of money can buy, and in turn, will yield plenty of campaign contributions.

Plus Epic and everyone else has completely abandoned them and as is always the case, there are others complicit or at least very bad at their job who are happy to cooperate (and even embellish) if it means a convenient scapegoat.


I'll bet you a coke all three of them serve time.

[Midtowner]

^

In this case, Drummond is smart enough to know that he'll gain much more towards his political ambitions by sending those guys to jail.

That's publicity and esteem no amount of money can buy, and in turn, will yield plenty of campaign contributions.


I'll bet you a coke all three of them serve time.

I'll take that bet.

I'm just remembering back to the days of the Oklahoma Industry Authority and associates. I guess that the difference is that back then we had a worthless bootlicking news media who served the interests of the powers that be rather than indifferently reporting the news.

And today, we have some pretty great news sites that no one knows about or reads.

[Pete]

^

It really is a big and important distinction.

Very hard these days to just cover things up or only advance a completely one-sided view of events.

People still try those old tactics (and The Oklahoman is all too often willing to just print their propaganda without the smallest amount of research or challenge) but to me, that is just a sure sign of guilt. Show me someone profiled by the Oklahoman or goes running to them when they fall under scrutiny, and 9 times out of 10 I'll show you a crook. Because those stories originate from someone or their PR agency that is clearly trying to cover something up and it automatically begs the question: Why?

This also happens in hundreds of subtle ways. Like the Alliance leaking the story about the Omni and failing to include -- and knowing they wouldn't be asked -- $65 million in finance charges to be paid by the public. Or when the guys from Convergence run to them for a cheerleading story about their investment and job creation when it's all old information but they want to get in front of people before a decision is made on the order of MAPS 4 projects -- and then lo and behold they end up at the front of the list.

They think they are fooling people when in fact they are merely waving a red flag. I and others can see exactly what is happening and if the people involved aren't already on the radar of those that will keep a close watch, they will be after one of those sickening, manufactured 'stories'. Most of the time that's the genesis of people I track for years before finally publishing something; TEEMCO, Farmers Bank, Relax Park are cases in point and I have about another dozen that I actively track and patiently wait for the time I can actually post hard facts. I see one of those ridiculous articles, quickly check their braggadocious claims and usually can turn up some big inconsistencies with the truth.


When it was Stitt's hand-picked AG I wasn't very confident any of these guys would end up in jail because sometimes there are political institutions that can't be stopped no matter how much light is shined. But even that has seemed to backfire and that's one of the big reasons I have the opinion that I do.

[Midtowner]

Just color me skeptical in that I think, and let me be happily surprised if I'm wrong, that Drummond will end up falling in line with the Epic scam. I just don't see the upside for someone seeking the GOP nomination going after Chaney and Harris, who by all accounts are protected by Stitt, who was just reelected by extremely wide margins after spending 4 years very openly protecting those two.

I think things might have gone very differently had many of the fraudsters you mentioned ingratiated themselves to the GOP establishment as thoroughly as Chaney and Harris have.

I hope I owe you a coke.

[Pete]

^

And by "ingratiating" you mean effectively bribing with stolen taxpayer money.

[Midtowner]

^

And by "ingratiating" you mean effectively bribing with stolen taxpayer money.

Yeah, pretty much.

[Pete]

The case against the 3 former main players in Epic continues to ramp up.

The government just filed for a 'restraining order to preserve forfeitable property' against Chaney and Harris.

This will be decided next month by the judge.

[Teo9969]

Hope you bought a Coke in March, Midtowner. Otherwise it's gonna cost you like 15% more than it otherwise would have

[Midtowner]

Hope you bought a Coke in March, Midtowner. Otherwise it's gonna cost you like 15% more than it otherwise would have

Right? I'm waiting for something to bail these guys out because that's what has happened every single step of the way. We thought their goose was cooked when the charter school board might revoke their charter... and then we see dissenting members of the Board hooked off the stage and replaced with stooges.

Their luck may have run out... but it's a complex scenario and will be a challenge, I think for the state to explain the fraud to a jury in a meaningful way with the defense trying to confuse them. It ain't over til its over.

[Pete]

^

You know as well as anyone that the huge majority of criminal cases never go to trial.

If they have enough evidence to go to jury trial, there will be plea bargain discussions and I'd be surprised if these guys don't take it, forfeit a ton of money, and try to minimize their jail time.

[Midtowner]

^

You know as well as anyone that the huge majority of criminal cases never go to trial.

If they have enough evidence to go to jury trial, there will be plea bargain discussions and I'd be surprised if these guys don't take it, forfeit a ton of money, and try to minimize their jail time.

Well thus far, I think if there's any jail time, I'd wager they roll the dice and go to a jury. Based on their behavior thus far, they think their money and influence can get them pretty far--and they may be right. I think the State might have a very hard time proving criminal intent.

Of course now that neither has access to tens of millions of income, their former political friends might find them to be a little less loyalty-inspiring.

And who knows.. maybe they could cut a deal and turn state's evidence against the corrupt politicians which allowed them to remain in business? That'd be fun.

[Pete]

The former Epic CFO Joshua Brock has agreed to testify against founders Ben Harris and David Chaney.

In exchange, he won't serve any jail time but will be a convicted felon with a 15-year suspended sentence and pay restitution.

Testimony has been on-going this week and a judge will decide if Chaney and Harris will go to trial.

Harris and Chaney established a private company, Epic Youth Services, to operate the school system. The company was paid 10% of all taxpayer dollars appropriated to the school system in management fees

An auditor for the state testified Thursday that Harris has been paid more than $24 million from those management fees since 2013. Chaney got $23 million and Brock got $8.7 million, according to the testimony.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news...e/73115044007/

[okatty]

Pretty good summary here too (thru yesterday) by Oklahoma Watch. Been a very interesting Prelim so far.

https://oklahomawatch.org/2024/03/25...hools-founders

[Richard at Remax]

https://nondoc.com/2024/03/26/epic-e...inary-hearing/

[Richard at Remax]

Since Josh spoke on Friday the defense has an opportunity to cross examine him now. That will now be May 7