Founder, superintendent of Ohio charter schools pleads guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud

COLUMBUS — An Ohio man who founded and served as the superintendent of two Columbus charter schools pleaded guilty this week to conspiring to commit bank fraud.

Abdirizak Y. Farah, 59, admitted in U.S. District Court to fraudulently using school funds to help buy his home in New Albany, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio.

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Farah founded Focus Learning Academy of Northern Columbus in 2007 and Focus Learning Academy of Central Columbus in 2020.

In Aug. 2020, Farah purchased a $900,000 home in New Albany. Two days before his original closing date, he requested a $265,000 wire from a Focus Learning bank account to another person, stating the purpose was for “learning materials,” according to court records.

That same day, he submitted a letter to the bank handling his real estate closing. The letter stated he received $260,000 in gifted funds that were unrelated to the real estate transaction.

The person who received the wired funds then wired $260,000 to the title company handling the closing the next day.

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In the days that followed, several vendors or Focus Learning made payments totaling $265,000 to the person who helped Farah and that money was returned to the school.

As part of Farah’s plea agreement, he will forfeit $265,000 to the United States.

Farah could face up to 30 years in prison.

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