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Easton Charter School Board President Calls $570,000 Expense A Bookkeeping Error, Not Fraud - Lehighvalleylive.com™

A $570,000 expense uncovered during a fraud audit at Easton’s charter school resulted from a bookkeeping error, according to the school board president.

Michael Lieberman explained the error in a letter sent to the Easton Arts Academy Elementary Charter School community Thursday, July 30.

Auditor Francis “Skip” Bedics said fraud was likely to blame for a 1099-MISC form in 2018 that said the school paid $570,472.19 to PenTeleData. The school only received about $20,000 worth of services from that company that year, the audit says.

Lieberman said in his letter a school employee who wrote the 1099-MISC tax form mistakenly entered the amount of total transactions by PSBT, People’s Security Bank & Trust. The school uses that bank, Lieberman wrote. PSBT is one line down from PenTeleData in the financial ledger the employee used. The employee admitted to the mistake after July 13, Lieberman said.

“No findings thus far have confirmed that the school actually spent $570,472.19 inappropriately or that these funds were otherwise misappropriated, embezzled or fraudulently transferred,” he wrote. He said the school “has been taking decisive action” with regard to the audit.

Lehighvalleylive.com reached out to all six school board members for comment prior to publication of outsource amazon data entry services a July 27 article concerning the audit. It reached out repeatedly to school CEO Chadwick Antonio, Lieberman and the school attorneys for comment.

Easton Arts Academy school board member Michael Lieberman attends a meeting June 27, 2019. He was named board president July 16, 2020.Rudy Miller