CHICAGO—The former chief executive of the Chicago public school system will plead guilty to federal charges she received kickbacks and bribes in exchange for steering district contracts to a former employer, her lawyer said Thursday.
The indictment of Barbara Byrd-Bennett, announced by prosecutors earlier in the day, is the latest blow to the nation’s third-largest school system, which is facing a growing fiscal crisis. Ms. Byrd-Bennett resigned in late spring during the federal probe.
Federal prosecutors charged the 66-year-old with 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud in connection with the scheme in which two firms that train school administrators received more than $23 million in no-bid contracts. The two related firms, Supes Academy and Synesi Associates, and their former owners Gary Solomon and Thomas Vranas, were also charged in the indictment.