Gülen-linked US schools implicated in $5 million fraud

A U.S.-based newspaper has reported that schools allegedly associated with the shady Gülen Movement are suspected of involvement in a $5 million fraud operation over accusations that they funneled the money from federal grants to Gülenists.
The Chicago Sun-Times report, based on court records, shows that executives of the Concept Schools company, which runs a network of charter schools in the United States, schemed to transfer money from federal grants to companies affiliated with executives and at least $20,000 is suspected to have been transferred to a bank account in Turkey from the account of one of those companies.

A court record attributed to a special agent from the Education Department's inspector general's office says Concept Schools directed large portions of E-rate program money away from the charter schools to "related vendors" who paid more than $5 million to several companies linked to the school executives.

Another court document relating an account by a former Concept official shows the company turned to contractors they had "close ties" with and rigged the grant scheme by awarding contracts to companies set up by Gülenists.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was recently investigating Concept Schools, which operate 19 charter schools in several states. The school chain, owned and operated by Turkish nationals, had distanced itself from Gülenists who face terror charges for attempts to overthrow the government in Turkey. Though the FBI did not give details about the investigation, a U.S. official told Turkey's Anadolu Agency in October that "a white-collar crime investigation" into the school chain was underway.

The investigation was started after a series of raids in June 2014 at schools and offices of the Concept Schools network in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. The FBI had seized documents regarding the school chain's contracts, documents related to e-rate grants and documents related to money transfers. E-rate is a program by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that provides discounts to schools in the United States for acquiring affordable equipment for telecommunications and Internet access.

According to its website, Concept Schools, founded in 2002, operate 17 schools in Ohio, four in Illinois, three in Missouri, three in Indiana and one school each in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. Overall, there are more than 140 schools in 26 states operated by groups linked to the Gülen Movement, which is active on every continent with a large network of schools.
Gülenists are also claimed to have abused a work visa system for Turkish teachers they brought to the United States. Teachers are issued an H-1B, a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S.-based employers to temporarily employ foreigners in specialty occupations. Charter schools operated by Gülenists have long been a point of contention in the U.S. A New York Times article from 2011 was one of the first in-depth articles on the issue, pointing out to dubious contracts to new companies with little experience awarded by charter schools. The article, focused on Gülen-linked schools in Texas, had questioned the spending of taxpayers' money by publicly financed schools, especially in awarding contracts to Turkish-owned businesses linked to the movement. It also revealed that visa abuse dated back to at least 2009 and a complaint by a charter school union in Chicago over Concept Schools' abuse of the visa system.