Testimony Continues In Day 4 Of Preliminary Hearings For Epic Charter School Founders

Testimony continued Thursday in the week-long preliminary hearings for two Epic Charter School founders.

Thursday, March 28th 2024, 5:32 pm

By: News 9, Jennifer Pierce

OKLAHOMA -

Testimony continued Thursday in the week-long preliminary hearings for two Epic Charter School founders.

The two men, along with the school’s Chief Financial Officer were charged by the state Attorney General’s Office with embezzlement, racketeering, and several other criminal charges.

Testimony was expected from Epic’s CFO Josh Brock on Thursday. Brock’s attorney told News 9 he will testify as part of a plea deal. However, a state forensic auditor spent the day in testimony.

Prosecutors questioned the witness on how David Chaney, Ben Harris, and Brock allegedly funneled $56.5 million in public funding to themselves.

State forensic auditors started looking into payments made to Epic founders in 2019. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal investigation a year later based on the findings in the audit.

The auditor testified the men were taking a 10 percent management fee from different shell companies that changed names over the years. The witness said there was false invoicing, and she had no idea what the management fee was used for other than to pay the founders.

The defense argued that politics played a part in the audit because Chaney, Harris, and Brock were donating to State Auditor Cindy Byrd's opponent in the 2022 election. The attorney pointed out his client Harris was arrested five days prior to the election.

The defense also brought up Epic's independent audits that were done each year since 2013 and the state did not send Epic any deficiencies during that time.

The forensic auditor told the defense attorney the two audits were like comparing apples to oranges. In the end, the state audit found the millions of dollars in question were public dollars and not private.

Testimony will continue Friday morning.

After the state and defense rest, the judge will decide if Harris and Chaney will be bound over for trial.