Chicago school officials are seeking more than $65 million in damages and penalties in a lawsuit against former district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and her co-defendants in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme.
Also named in the suit is SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates, companies that won more than $23 million in no-bid contracts from the district while Byrd-Bennett was CEO.
Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty in October to a single federal count of wire fraud. She faces up to 7½ years in federal prison. Byrd-Bennett is cooperating with prosecutors, and sentencing has been postponed until the charges against her co-defendants are resolved. They allegedly promised Byrd-Bennett thousands of dollars for steering no-bid contracts from the district to their companies.
