San Diego Deputy District Attorney Leon Schorr talks about one of the largest school fraud cases in California history.
In April, an investigative report from the North Carolina State Auditor states a North Carolina charter school falsified student records and misused school funding, to the tune of $400K. Earlier this year a man in Minnesota was charged with misspending $30M dollars in federal funding for meals for children, spending it instead on luxury cars and lakefront properties. Other charter school scandals have been reported throughout the country.
San Diego Deputy DA Leon Schorr joins the podcast to discuss the A3 Charter School Fraud case. Deputy DA Schorr led the prosecution team that uncovered a scheme that defrauded California of $400M. After a year of investigation, thousands of pages of discovery, and the testimony of 70 witnesses, a San Diego grand jury returned a 235-page indictment. The prosecution team secured numerous convictions, recovered $230M in stolen funds, and imposed a $37M fine against the main two fraudsters.
Quiz: 2 are real, 1 is fake; can you guess which one is the fake?
A. Charles Ponzi, convicted of mail fraud in 1920, schemed his investors by promising them a 50% return in 45 days if they invested in his business of buying and selling postal reply coupons.
B. The phrase “If you believe that, then I've got a bridge to sell you” comes from the crimes of George C. Parker, who in the late 1800s was convicted of fraud after duping customers by selling them the Brooklyn Bridge.
C. The term “con man” comes from “confidence man”, a term attributed to Frank Murphy who was convicted of fraud in 1929 after selling fake stocks outside the New York Stock Exchange.
Please leave a rating and review wherever you listen to the podcast. Thank you for listening!
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this podcast are solely of the speakers and do not reflect the views of the Deputy DA's Association nor the District Attorney.
Questions and comments can be emailed to crimnewsinsider@gmail.com.
Featured in the Top 10 Criminal Law Podcasts!
Website: https://sdddaa.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoDDAs/
Twitter: @CrimeNewsInsidr, @SanDiegoDDAs
Instagram: @sandiegoddas
Music by: The Only Ocean - "Snake"
Image by: Pixabay user Michael Gaida.