SUPES Academy is a now defunct Illinois-based company that trained school administrators around the country.
At the request of Baltimore County’s then-new school Superintendent Dallas Dance, SUPES in December 2012 got an $875,000 no-bid contract with the school system to train principals in the district.
According to an indictment of Dance issued Tuesday, the company paid him $90,000 from November 2012 to November 2013, and Dance failed to report the payments on required financial disclosure forms.
SUPES Academy came to the attention of federal investigators in Chicago several years ago. In 2015, a co-owner of SUPES and the former Chicago school superintendent, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, were indicted on corruption charges.
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and admitted she had steered more than $23 million in no-bid contracts to SUPES. In return she received tickets to sporting events and meals and promises of kickbacks.
The SUPES official, Gary Solomon, was convicted and sentenced to seven years for his part in offering thousands of dollars to Byrd-Bennett for her help in getting millions in contracts for his company. Byrd-Bennett was sentenced to four and a half years in federal prison.
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Document: Dallas Dance indictment
Dallas Dance allegedly failed to report nearly $147K in pay. Here's what it was.