A New Albany man who founded and was superintendent of two Columbus charter schools pleaded guilty in federal court Monday after conspiring to commit bank fraud and use over a quarter of a million dollars to help buy a house.
Abdirizak Y. Farah, 59, faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud to help purchase his New Albany home with money from the schools, according to the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Sentencing will be determined at a later date.
As part of his plea, Farah will also forfeit $265,000 to the United States, but the New Albany home is not part of the plea agreement for forfeiture.
Farah founded Focus Learning Academy of Northern Columbus (FLANC) on Dublin Granville Road in 2007, according to a release. The school serves approximately 700 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. He also founded Focus Learning Academy of Central Columbus (FLACC) on Cleveland Avenue in 2020, which serves pre-kindergarten through third grade students.
Neither school could be immediately reached for comment. Farah appears to be still listed as superintendent of both schools on the school websites.
In August 2020, Farah purchased a $900,000 home on Lambton Park Road in New Albany, according to court documents. On Aug. 12, two days before his original closing date, Farah requested a $265,000 wire from a Focus Learning bank account to another person and stated the purpose was for “learning materials.”
That same day, Farah submitted a letter to the bank handling his real estate closing, stating he received $260,000 in gifted funds that were unrelated to the real estate transaction, according to the release.
The next day, on Aug. 13, the person who received the wired funds in turn wired $260,000 to the title company handling the closing on the New Albany home. In the following days, several FLANC vendors made payments totaling approximately $265,000 to the person who assisted Farah, and that money was returned to FLANC.
The next day, on Aug. 13, the person who received the wired funds in turn wired $260,000 to the title company handling the closing.
Karen Wingerd, special agent in charge at the Cincinnati Field Office, said financial cases like this can take time to unravel. She said federal tax laws are normally violated in these types of cases which add additional jail time to sentences.
“As we often see, the victims are not only American taxpayers, but also individuals and businesses who suffer financial harm,” Wingerd said.
Reporter Shahid Meighan contributed to this report.
Cbehrens@dispatch.com
@colebehr_report
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Charter school head Farah pleads guilty to bank fraud over home buy
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