Muslim country is warning Europe about Islamism.

Not Christian conservatives. Not the "far right". Not anyone you can wave away as an Islamophobe.

The United Arab Emirates.

The UAE has spent years taking a hard line against political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood, which the country classifies as a terrorist organisation.

And in June 2026, the UAE's ambassador to the EU, Mohammed Ismail Al Sahlawi, sat in the European Parliament at a conference with this title:

"Muslim Brotherhood: a real threat to Europe."

Hard to misread.

The warning was about the Brotherhood's methods. Infiltrating European societies and institutions, influencing political decisions, spreading extremist ideology.

Read that again.

A Muslim country is warning Europe about political Islam. And here is what matters most! Islamism is not only the man with a rifle or a suicide vest.

That is the outermost, violent expression of it.

Islamism can also work slowly. And politically.

Through organisations, universities, religious institutions, activism, lobbying, political and institutional influence.

That is exactly why it is so dangerous to look only for the man with the bomb belt. Because Islamism can arrive in a suit. It can hold a university degree. It can run an organisation. It can sit close to political decision makers.

And it can learn to speak the West's own language about tolerance, rights and diversity, while working for values that collide with liberal democracy.

And no. This is not just something the UAE claims.

Britain's own government has investigated the Muslim Brotherhood.

The British review found that Brotherhood-associated and Brotherhood-influenced groups in the UK had, at various points, held significant influence over the largest Muslim student organisation, national Muslim organisations in dialogue with the government, charities and some mosques.

The same review concluded that parts of the Brotherhood's ideology and activities run counter to democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, equality, and mutual respect and tolerance between faiths.

So this is not only about terror.

It is about ideology.

And now comes the part that should stop every European in their tracks.

The UAE has become so concerned about Islamist radicalisation at British universities that British universities have been removed from the list of institutions where Emirati students can receive state scholarships.

Young Emiratis are still free to study in Britain. With their own money. The UAE simply will not pay for it anymore.

A person with direct knowledge of the discussions put it plainly to the Financial Times: "They don't want their kids to be radicalised on campus."

Sit with that for a second.

A Muslim, Arab country is worried about sending its Muslim young people to Britain, because it fears they will be radicalised there.

If that does not trigger some soul-searching in Europe, I don't know what will.

Because the UAE's point is precisely this. You make a fatal mistake if you only start caring about Islamism once someone picks up a weapon.

The ideological process may have started years earlier.

The UAE's foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has said:

"Daesh, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have fed off a wider current of extremist ideas."

He pointed specifically at political Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which in his view have spent decades spreading those narratives.

He called them "backward-looking". And said they "reject open, pluralistic societies." This is a Muslim foreign minister saying it.

And there is something else I want to make very clear!

THE UAE IS NOT THE WEST.

It is not Europe. It is not a Western liberal democracy.

It is a Muslim, Arab country with a different culture, a different form of government and different traditions. And there are aspects of the UAE's political system and human rights record that we would never accept in a Western democracy.

This is not to be romanticised.

But the UAE has fought political Islamism for decades, an ideology its leadership believes has undermined and destabilised the Middle East. And which they now openly warn is seeking influence in Europe and the rest of the Western world.

Their foreign minister has spoken about the need to show that you can be "modern, Arab and Muslim."

That distinction is one Europe desperately needs to understand.

You can be a Muslim and still reject political Islam, extremism, antisemitism and religious intolerance.

And notice one more thing.

THE VIEW OF WOMEN IS PART OF THAT FIGHT.

Abdullah bin Zayed has directly criticised Islamist ideologies for their "denigration of women's role in society."

The UAE has not just talked about it. The country has made women's education, economic participation and leadership official state policy.

Women are to be educated. They are to work.

They are to be able to start businesses. They are to take part economically and politically. And they are to sit at the table where decisions are made.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the UAE's vice president and prime minister, established the UAE Gender Balance Council with the stated aim of reducing the gender gap and strengthening women's participation in leadership and decision making.

And the UAE's president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, MBZ, leads a Muslim country that has made religious coexistence part of its national story.

In Abu Dhabi, a mosque, a church and a synagogue stand side by side in the Abrahamic Family House.

Think about that contrast.

A Muslim country is saying: Keep Islam. Fight Islamism.

Let women study, work and lead. Let Christians be Christians. Let Jews be Jews. And fight the political and religious movements that want to replace pluralism with their own ideology.

And yes. That includes the people who support, legitimise and clear the path for those movements while believing they are defending tolerance and diversity. Including when they end up working against the very Western values, freedom, equality, democracy and religious liberty, that gave them the opportunity to do so in the first place.

History has an old term for people who end up serving an ideology whose actual goals they do not share:

"Useful idiots." They do not have to be Islamists themselves. That is the whole point. They only have to be useful to those who are.

And this is what Europe has to learn to separate:

Islam is a religion. Islamism is a political ideology. And Islamist extremism is not "diversity".

You can defend Muslims' full right to believe and practise their faith, and at the same time say a resounding NO to movements that want to use religion for political power, parallel societies, extremism, or the gradual erosion of the society that gave them the freedom to be here.

Tolerance does not mean tolerating intolerance until it has grown strong enough to turn on you.

When a Muslim country pulls its state scholarships away from British universities out of fear of Islamist radicalisation, while parts of Europe are still afraid to even name the problem, the question is no longer whether there is a problem.

The question is who understood the seriousness of it.

And right now, it isn't us!

UK Explicitly Told Police To Consider Race in Order to Make Outcomes Equal Across Groups

 The exact text in the "Police Anti-Racism Commitment" document confirms that police officers were explicitly instructed not to be color blind.

The document, published by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) in collaboration with the College of Policing, explicitly states that achieving "racial equity" means: [1]

"...does not mean treating everyone 'the same' or being 'colour blind'." [1, 2]

What the Guidance Actually Commanded

The core philosophy behind the document was "equity of outcomes," rather than traditional equality. Critics argue that the document essentially ordered police to do the following: [1, 2]

• Incorporate Race into Decisions: It instructed officers that people's experiences and circumstances are "racialised", meaning a person's race should be factored into how police interact with them. [1]
• Target "Equality of Outcomes": It directed forces to focus on the end results of policing. Critics, including several MPs, pointed out that this text actively encouraged officers to artificially adjust their day-to-day work—such as reducing stops or arrests of minorities—simply to make statistics look equal across demographics, rather than basing decisions strictly on a person's behavior. [1, 2, 3]
• Avoid "Criminalising" Communities: It warned officers to consider the historical context of minority groups to avoid disproportionately criminalizing them. On the ground, critics argue this created a hesitant, fearful policing culture where officers are terrified of being labeled racist, causing them to immediately back down when a minority suspect claims racial discrimination—just as Vickrum Digwa did while standing over the dying student. [1, 2, 3]

The Government's Current Excuse

Now that this wording has been exposed to the public, the political establishment is desperately trying to distance itself from it. [1]

Policing Minister Sarah Jones publicly admitted the language is "wrong" and suggests people should be treated differently based on their ethnicity. However, the government's official line to keep insisting the system is "fair" is their claim that this document was merely an aspirational "values document," rather than a handbook used in operational tactical training. [1, 2]  And she continues to rise in the ranks.

To the British public, this distinction feels entirely meaningless. The text proves that the very top chiefs of British policing codified a rulebook telling officers that treating people identically regardless of race was the wrong approach—directly creating the environment that cost Henry Nowak his life. [1, 2]

Few Juvenile Rehabilitative Programs Show Solid Evidence of Effectiveness

 Even the large body of juvenile-intervention research finds substantial variation. OJJDP notes that only a small percentage of rehabilitative programs used with justice-involved youth have actually been established as evidence-based.

OJJDP is the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. It is part of the U.S. Department of Justice.

It is essentially the federal government's juvenile-justice research and policy office. It:

• funds research on juvenile crime and juvenile justice;
• evaluates programs intended to reduce juvenile offending;
• provides guidance to state and local juvenile-justice systems;
• publishes statistics and research reviews;
• administers federal grants to states, municipalities and organizations.

Avg IQ in College Major and Female/Male Ratio are Negatively Correlated.

Asylum Cases Random Sample -- Provides Details of 10 cases and disposition

https://x.com/dilanesper/status/2090522889334534259?s=20 

@dilanesper

OK, so I did a random search- I searched Westlaw for 2024 asylum cases in the 9th Circuit. I chose 2024 because that way you can't argue this was due to the Trump Administration's restrictive policies. These were Biden era cases. And I just chose the first 10 cases returned.

I didn't ask for reversals or affirmances. Just for cases that involved review of asylum claims. And I just took the first 10 that came up. I didn't stack the deck in any way. And remember, these were the appeals that asylees CHOSE to bring.

So this should be a somewhat biased sample towards cases with a decent shot of reversal. Because some litigants facing an obvious loss won't appeal. So let's go through these.

 

1.      Echeverria de Leon v. Garland (9th Cir. Jul. 5, 2024) is our first case. Echeverria was harassed because she would not join a gang. She conceded she had no evidence that she was ever persecuted because of her membership in a group. Asylum denied.

2.      .Betancourt v. Garland (9th Cir. Apr. 9, 2024) comes next. Betancourt said criminals attempted to kidnap her, offering a fake job at Walmart. However, she "stated that she did not know why she was targeted and that the criminals attempted to kidnap both men and women" Denied.

3.      Ayala v. Garland (9th Cir. Dec. 13, 2024) is next. Ayala "testified that he received no threats or harm since 2007". He conceded he was never personally harmed or threatened in Mexico. Asylum denied.

4.      Castillo-Lopez v. Garland (9th Cir. Aug. 28, 2024) is next up. Castillo-Lopez actually asserted a claim that would qualify for asylum if true. He said the FMLN targeted him for participating in a mayoral campaign. The problem is his story fell apart when he testified.  His character witnesses said actually he participated in the presidential campaign, not the mayoral campaign, and he couldn't explain the discrepancy. And he changed his story as to whether his attackers were FMLN members or gang members and who they were. Asylum denied.

5.      Aleman-Belloso v. Bondi (9th Cir. Nov. 13, 2024, amended Feb. 18, 2025) is next. This has Pam Bondi in the caption because the opinion was modified (non-substantively) later. But it's still a Biden-era decision.  Aleman-Belloso won his appeal. (Notice, I am not stacking the deck. If there's a reversal I will tell you about it.) Aleman was a member of a group of church leaders targeted by the FMLN.  The immigration authorities misconstrued his position and incorrectly ruled this wasn't a protected social group. This case got remanded. The opinion reads like he was likely to win his case on remand, and absolutely should.

6.      Next is Guzman v. Garland (9th Cir. Jun. 11, 2024). Guzman was robbed of her cell phone on the street in 2014, and claimed this was due to her being a woman. But she admitted she had no idea why the attacker robbed her. Asylum denied.

7.      Recinos-Orozco v. Garland (9th Cir. Dec. 9, 2024) is our next case. Recinos-Orozco contended throughout her dealings with USCIS that she had been targeted because she was part of a group of women who opposed gang violence, but abandoned that claim on appeal. Asylum denied.

8.      He v. Garland (9th Cir. Apr. 5, 2024) comes next. He was found not to be credible. I'll quote the court on this one. "She testified that the church she attended in China both did and did not keep attendance records....  Undated and unnotarized letters from Petitioner's mother arrived both from mainland China and from Taiwan, even though Petitioner testified that her mother has never been to Taiwan....  And Petitioner's documentary evidence related to her membership in a Los Angeles church included information that contradicted Petitioner's testimony."  "Despite providing a written declaration stating that she had been... beaten up by the police, Petitioner testified..., after she was arrested in China, her only contact with the police was when they released her and that “nothing” happened to her while in custody."  Asylum denied.

9.      Calmo-Geronimo v. Garland (9th Cir. Oct. 29). Calmo didn't even try to win her case. She gave up her argument there was any nexus between her alleged persecution and membership in a group, and also didn't challenge the finding that she was lying on her application. Denied.

10.  . Finally, Simonian v. Garland (9th Cir. Dec. 5). Simonian sought asylum even though there was ample evidence his home government actively investigated the two attacks he alleged (allegations the immigration officials found not credible anyway). No fear of persecution. Denied.

So asylum appellees went 1 for 10. A couple ere found on very credible evidence to be liars. The others were clearly making arguments about generalized violence and had no basis for claiming credible fear of persecution based on any group membership. That's the state of asylum.  But even more telling is that several of these people didn't even press their arguments of persecution based on group membership on appeal. I am an appellate lawyer and I can tell you this is VERY uncommon in other areas of the law.

Because remember, these people almost certainly were paroled and got work permits-- almost everyone in the asylum system did. That's the point of asylum fraud. You might get to stay in the US for several years and work, until the jig is up. You're just running the clock out.

The Aleman-Beloso's of the world. Their meritorious cases and appeals take forever because the courts are clogged with people who just wanted to lie or file a phony claim to get into the country and get a work permit and make some money.

 

 How LLM's Work

1.  Overall Description -- Predicting Next Word -- Basically incomprehensible to me.

https://x.com/0xEronn/status/2089079333885198384?s=20

Harry and Meghan -- Moving Back to Britain

 

They have repeatedly portrayed California as a much better fit for the life they wanted—more freedom, privacy, sunshine, outdoor life, and distance from the constraints of the royal institution. Their 2021 Oprah interview, for example, presented their California life as a calmer, more normal existence, with their Montecito home, garden, chickens, walks, and family life.

Harry was especially explicit about the contrast. In later interviews he described royal life as a mix between The Truman Show and living in a zoo. [1]

Oprah asked Meghan to describe their new life in California in one word. Meghan answered “Peace.” She then said that what she liked was being able to “live authentically” and described the life as getting “back down to basics.”

Harry made the point more explicitly in the 2022 Netflix documentary. He said that moving to California felt like a natural progression because he had “outgrown” his previous environment. He also said he felt content and that he and Meghan were where they were meant to be.

And in a 2022 interview with Hoda Kotb, Harry described California as home “for the time being.”

So there really was a fairly consistent message:

• Britain/royal life: intrusive, constrained, stressful, and ultimately unhealthy for them.
• California: privacy, freedom, authenticity, family life, sunshine, and the ability to choose their own work.
• Meghan particularly portrayed California as a return to her roots and a place where she could be herself. 

Apparently Principals Embezzling Funds (or Other Misbehavior) Is Not Rare

Searches of "principal embezzlement" on 9/29/2024

4.  Principal Celebrates Kirk's Murder and Has Child Pornography  8/19/2026

A former Oregon school principal who reportedly responded to Charlie Kirk’s murder with “Oh, too bad, good riddance” has now been sentenced to more than 5 years in prison in a child sexual abuse material case. The former Rainier Junior/Senior High School principal was already on paid leave over his comments about Kirk when police arrested him. Investigators said they found at least 31 images of child sexual abuse material on his devices—including material involving an infant. He pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and was sentenced to 5 years and 1 month behind bars, followed by sex-offender registration requirements.

3.  Former Catholic Principal Accused of Embezzling More Than $100,000  8/6/2024

Sonoma County prosecutors filed a felony count against a former high school principal accused of embezzling at least $100,000 from St. Vincent de Paul College Prep.  Patrick Daly, 59, was arraigned Monday in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa where he’s charged with one count of grand theft, according to court records.  He’s out of custody and is scheduled to return to court Oct. 1 to enter a plea before Judge Laura Passaglia.

2. Wyandotte Elementary Principal Pleads Guilty to Embezzling More Than $89,000  6/7/2024

A former Wyandotte elementary school principal accused of embezzling more than $89,000 of school funds has pleaded guilty.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Krizia Allen, 38, of West Bloomfield, pleaded to one count of theft from a federally funded program. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Federal prosecutors said that between June 2018 and February 2023, Allen, a principal at Garfield Elementary School, stole about $89,312 by using the funds for her personal use. 

Officials said Allen funneled more than $24,000 through a corporate entity and used the money to pay for rent and food and make ATM withdrawals. She also used a school credit card to purchase items on Amazon and transferred more than $50,000 into her PayPal account.

To conceal the theft, Allen submitted false business invoices and receipts of school-related purchases to the finance department.

1.  Evesham School Principal takes $709.25 in Cash

The elementary school principal in Evesham charged with theft was recorded on surveillance video walking out the building with a red canvas bank bag containing more $700 in cash, a court document states.

Colleen Schroeder stole $709.25 from the main office of Helen L. Beeler Elementary School at 6:05 p.m. on Feb. 21, according to court records and a criminal complaint outlining the third-degree charge filed against the 46-year-old Hainesport resident.

One search of "principal fraud"

1.  Catholic School in DC  08/03/2022

A former principal at a Catholic school in D.C. was sentenced to 30 months in prison for stealing at least $175,000 meant for school-related services and activities.

Bridget Coates, 49, of Virginia, pleaded guilty to a charge of wire fraud last April and was sentenced Wednesday.

She was the principal of St. Thomas More Catholic School in Southeast when she began taking money from the school’s Home School Association in 2012. Her scheme lasted through December 2017, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Columbia said. Coates resigned in 2018.

As principal, Coates had access to the association’s checks, which were supposed to pay for school-related purposes.

But prosecutors said that she “engaged in a pattern of purchasing personal good and services” with the money, including buying designers fashion and qualifying for a home mortgage loan. She also wrote 66 unauthorized checks and deposited money into her personal account.

In addition to her prison sentence, Coates has to pay $175,000 to the Archdiocese of Washington, as well an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.

https://wtop.com/local/2022/08/former-principal-of-dc-catholic-school-gets-2-1-2-years-for-embezzling/#:~:text=services%20and%20activities.-,A%20former%20principal%20at%20a%20Catholic%20school%20in%20D.C.%20was,April%20and%20was%20sentenced%20Wednesday.

2.  Catholic School in PA   06/08/2023

John C. McGrath, 57, former principal at a Maple Glen Catholic school, recently admitted to felony charges that he embezzled upward of $25,000 in school funds between May 2020 and October 2021.

McGrath was the principal at Our Lady of Mercy Regional Catholic School in the Maple Glen section of Upper Dublin. He faces a sentence of three years’ probation and a requirement to make full restitution after he’s sentenced.

According to Assistant District Attorney Tanner C. Beck, McGrath admitted to using the school’s credit cards to take unauthorized trips and visits to bars and restaurants, and pocketing money from a school fundraiser.

McGrath was once a Philadelphia police officer before becoming a principal, according to his lawyer.

https://aroundambler.com/former-principal-at-our-lady-of-mercy-regional-catholic-school-in-maple-glen-admits-to-embezzling-25k-during-his-tenure/

3.  Pasadena Principal 1/26/2022

A former Inglewood and Pasadena principal accused of pocketing about $67,000 in school money has pleaded guilty to three felony counts after a nearly year-long investigation by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.

Kyle Douglas, the 51-year-old former principal of Inglewood High School and Pasadena’s Woodrow Wilson Middle School, pleaded guilty to misappropriation of public funds, forgery and grand theft late last week, said Los Angeles District Attorney spokesman Greg Risling.

While employed at Inglewood High in 2017, Douglas negotiated an unauthorized contract with a company for private use of the school’s parking lot, according to a statement from the DA’s office.

He profited about $57,000 from the deal.

Inglewood Unified School District did not return multiple requests for comment. Douglas also did not respond to a request for comment.

Douglas was later hired by the Pasadena Unified School District, in October 2017, to serve as principal for Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

In 2019, Douglas collected about $10,000 for a Wilson Middle student trip to China — and never paid the company that he hired to organize the trip, the DA’s statement said.

He was placed on leave June 27, 2019, and later “released from employment” on June 30, 2020, a representative for that district said. The district declined to provide further comment on Douglas’ case.

Wilson Middle School is now closed. The PUSD board voted to close the school in late 2019 after a series of budgetary issues related to declining student enrollment.

“Betraying students, their parents and school administrators,” District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement, “is the ultimate failure for those who are the face and voice of a school.”

Douglas’ career in academia began in 1996. He began as a social studies teacher at Marshall Fundamental School and Rose City High School, where he worked until 2007, according to a PUSD news release from the time of his hiring.

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He later became the dean of activities for the Temple City Unified School District. In 2009, he was appointed assistant principal of the Alhambra Unified School District.

Douglas joined the Inglewood Unified School District as principal in 2015, the news release said.

Douglas pleaded guilty on Friday, Jan. 21, and was sentenced to formal probation, 120 days community service and ordered to make $67,700 in restitution, Risling said.

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2022/01/26/ex-principal-pleads-guilty-to-3-felonies-stealing-67000-from-pasadena-middle-inglewood-high-schools/

4.  Boston New Mission High School 8/1/2023

Naia Wilson was the head of school for New Mission High School, a pilot school in Hyde Park, for 13 years. Over the course of 3 years, she allegedly used over $38,000 in school money to pay for vacations for herself and her friends.

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Authorities have charged a former Boston Public Schools principal with one count of wire fraud for allegedly misusing nearly $40,000 in public money on things like all-inclusive personal vacations.

Mattapan resident Naia Wilson, 60, served as the head of school at Hyde Park‘s New Mission High School, an autonomous pilot school within Boston Public Schools, from 2006 to 2019, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts said in a press release Tuesday.

Between September 2016 and May 2019, Wilson requested checks from the school’s account that were listed as being for other people, the release said. She then allegedly fraudulently endorsed those checks and deposited the checks into her own account. The persons the checks were for never knew of the checks or authorized Wilson to deposit them in her own account.

Wilson used some of the embezzled $38,806 to pay for two all-inclusive vacations to Barbados for herself and her friends in 2016 and 2018, the release said. Both times, Wilson requested checks payable to other people who went on the trips.

“Instead of working honestly on behalf of her students, Naia Wilson is accused of abusing her authority and using the school’s budget as her own personal slush fund,” FBI Boston Special Agent Christopher DiMenna said in the release.

Wilson recorded the fraudulent checks as being for stipends and expense reimbursements, but some of the people the checks were issued to never worked at New Mission, The Boston Globe reported.

Federal prosecutors began investigating Wilson at the same time that an independent audit of Boston Public School’s spending flagged New Mission for shoddy recordkeeping, the newspaper wrote.

Superintendent Mary Skipper thanked the U.S. Attorney’s office for its efforts to restore misappropriated funds to Boston students in a statement Tuesday.

“The Boston Public Schools takes its responsibility as a steward of public funds very seriously,” Skipper said. “…Since these incidents, the Boston Public Schools has implemented additional internal protocols and procedures to prevent a situation like this from occurring again.”

5.  Chicago Public Schools

A former Chicago principal faces a 10-count federal indictment for allegedly stealing $200,000 in overtime money from other employees.  Sarah Jackson Abedelal was a principal at Brennemann Elementary School, at 4251 N. Clarendon Ave. in the Uptown neighborhood. According to federal prosecutors, Abedelal, 57, engaged in the scheme from 2012 to 2019 while she was principal at the school.

The indictment said Abedelal told some school employees that she would authorize overtime pay for hours they didn't work.  "She directed them to then deliver the proceeds of the unearned overtime to Abedelal or another individual," the indictment states.  Abedelal told the employees that the money would be used to pay for school expenses at Brennemann Elementary School.  Instead, she intended to convert the funds for her own personal use.

The federal charges allege that Abedelal stole at least $200,000 in CPS money. through the scheme.  Abedelal is charged with ten counts of wire fraud.  The indictment states that Abedelal told school employees to take their unearned overtime money, convert it into cash on the day the paychecks were deposited into their bank accounts.  Abedelal would later meet with those workers employees individually in her office or classrooms to get the cash from them.  To hide the theft, Abedelal used the money to buy money orders at a currency exchange. She would then use the money orders to pay for her personal expenses.  One item included the mortgage on her home, according to the indictment.

Abedelal was arrested Wednesday morning. She is set to make a federal court Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather K. McShain. (She admitted to fraud but I could not find anything about sentencing.  Supposedly she was cooperating which might lead to a lesser sentence.)

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/ex-cps-principal-indicted-federal-fraud-200k/

More on above and related cases:  A former clerk at South Side Public Elementary School has been indicted in an extended federal fraud case involving wrongful ordering of school supplies to provide iPhones, iPads and prepaid gift cards for personal use to school officials. alleged plan to do so.

Ashley Beard, 34, who worked as a business clerk at Caldwell Math and Science Academy at 85th Street and South Craigiere Avenue before resigning in 2019, was charged with wire fraud in a superseding indictment brought in US District Court on Monday. 

According to the 10-page indictment, Anthony Rasmussen, 47, a sales associate for a suburban vendor who had a contract to supply Chicago public schools with paper, printer toner and other school supplies was also indicted. 

His indictment comes three months after Rasmussen’s coworker at the supply company, Debra Bannack, 62, of Schomberg, was charged with the same alleged scheme. Bannack has pleaded not guilty.

Beard and Rasmussen were the fifth and sixth people to be charged in the ongoing investigation, which also separated former Brenneman Elementary School principal Sarah Jackson Abedelal and two of her associates, who have been charged in a separate indictment.  Court records show Hammond’s beard, and Des Plaines’ Rasmussen are to be indicted on Friday on the impeachment.

A CPS spokesman said Tuesday that an issue involving “potentially fraudulent timekeeping” by Beard was first referred to the district’s legal team in February 2018, and after a review Found “further misconduct”, Beard was scheduled for a disciplinary convention.

“Soon thereafter, Beard resigned and admitted wrongdoing in his January 2019 resignation letter,” the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to the Tribune. “The CPS Law Department then referred the matter to the office of the Inspector General and since then, the investigation has expanded.”

The statement said CPS holds its staff to high standards and that the district’s legal team, if necessary, will refer cases to the inspector general to determine whether the practice can proceed. review and criminal charges. ,

The CPS placed Beard on its Do Not-Hire list after his resignation from 2007 to work for the district in some capacity.

According to the indictment, from 2015 to 2017, the defendants planned to falsify order records to make it appear that legitimate school supplies — such as paper, ink and toner — were distributed when, instead of purchasing an iPad, worth thousands of dollars. was used. iPhones and gift cards for personal use.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/6/14/23167856/cps-school-clerk-federal-wire-fraud-charge-investigation-chicago-public-schools