伊利诺伊州East Aurora学区前董事会主席Annette Johnson被联邦起诉：涉主导270万美元空气净化器采购、收130万美元回扣
美国司法部伊利诺伊北区联邦检察官办公室宣布，位于伊利诺伊州凯恩县的 Aurora 市 East Aurora 第131学区（East Aurora School District 131）前董事会主席 Annette Johnson 被联邦起诉，被控以诚实服务诈骗手法，为自己任财务总监的一家公司导向130万美元款项。起诉书于本周二由 Chicago 的联邦法院大陪审团作出。
起诉书指控，Johnson 在2021年主导第131学区向一家供应商购买空气净化器，金额约270万美元，并投票赞成这项采购；学区用的是新冠时期的联邦拨款。其他董事会成员并不知道，Johnson 与供应商事先约定：供应商要把销售款中的逾100万美元，付给一家由 Johnson 男友拥有、Johnson 本人在其中担任财务总监的公司。
起诉书称，董事会表决通过付款后数日之内，供应商就把一张标注为「佣金」（commission）的130万美元支票，寄给了 Johnson 任财务总监的那家公司。Johnson 在被指控的诈骗发生时是学区董事会主席，目前仍然是董事会成员。
Johnson 现年63岁，住在 Aurora。她被控2项诚实服务邮寄诈骗与1项诚实服务电信诈骗，每项罪名最高可判20年联邦监禁。她在 Chicago 联邦法院的提审日期尚未排定。
起诉由联邦检察官 Andrew S. Boutros、教育部监察长办公室（Office of Inspector General）中部区域办公室代理特别探员主管 Scott Wingle 与联邦调查局（FBI）Chicago 分局特别探员主管 Ryan Whalen 共同公布，政府一方由助理联邦检察官 Edward A. Liva Jr. 与 Adam Rosenbloom 代表。起诉书只是指控，Johnson 未经定罪，在被证明有罪之前推定无罪。
Former East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson Indicted in $1.3 Million Honest Services Fraud Scheme
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced that Annette Johnson, former president of the Board of Education of East Aurora School District 131 in Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, has been indicted on federal charges alleging she directed $1.3 million to a company for which she was the chief financial officer, as a kickback or bribe in exchange for using her position to approve the purchase of air purifiers from a school district vendor. The indictment was returned on Tuesday in federal court in Chicago.
The indictment accuses Johnson of steering District 131 to purchase air purifiers from the vendor for approximately $2.7 million in 2021 and voting in favor of the purchase. District 131 paid for the air purifiers using Covid-era federal grant funds. Unbeknownst to the other board members, Johnson and the vendor had agreed that the vendor would pay a company owned by Johnson's boyfriend — where Johnson worked as chief financial officer — more than $1 million of the proceeds of the sale.
Within days of a board vote in which Johnson participated and approved payment from District 131 to the vendor, the vendor mailed a $1.3 million check, labeled “commission,” to the company where Johnson was the chief financial officer, the indictment states. Johnson was president of the District 131 Board of Education at the time of the alleged scheme and currently remains a member of the board.
Johnson, 63, of Aurora, is charged with two counts of honest services mail fraud and one count of honest services wire fraud, each punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. Her arraignment in federal court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.
The indictment was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Scott Wingle, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General's Central Regional Office; and Ryan Whalen, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edward A. Liva, Jr. and Adam Rosenbloom. An indictment is only an allegation; Johnson is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：位于华盛顿的美国教育部总部林登·约翰逊大楼（资料图）。本案由教育部监察长办公室参与调查。ajay_suresh摄，CC BY 2.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / The U.S. Department of Education's Lyndon Baines Johnson Building in Washington (file photo). The department's inspector general took part in the investigation. Photo by ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
