COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who founded two Columbus charter schools pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud in U.S. District Court Monday.
According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, 59-year-old Abdirizak Farah admitted to fraudulently using school funds to help purchase his home in New Albany. His sentencing will take place at a later hearing.
Farah founded Focus Learning Academy of Northern Columbus (FLANC) in 2007 and Focus Learning Academy of Central Columbus in 2020. He served as the superintendent of both schools.
The school in northern Columbus serves 700 students in kindergarten through eighth grade while the central Columbus serves pre-K through third grade students. An exact amount of students at that school was not provided.
Farah was also employed as a senior policy advisor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Court documents say Farah purchased a $900,000 home on Lambton Park Road in New Albany in August 2020. Two days before his closing date, Farah reportedly requested a $265,000 wire from a Focus Learning bank account to another person and stated the purpose was for “learning materials."
Farah submitted a letter to the bank handling his real estate closing the same day, saying he received $260,000 in gifted funds that were unrelated to the real estate transaction.
The next day, the person who received the wired funds in turn wired $260,000 to the title company handling the closing.
In the following days, several FLANC vendors reportedly made payments totaling approximately $265,000 to the person who assisted Farah, and that money was returned to FLANC.
As part of his plea, Farah will forfeit $265,000 to the United States. He faces up to 30 years in prison.
