Charter School Founder and CEO Sentenced to 2 Years in Federal Prison for Misappropriating $3.2 Mil

Charter School Founder and CEO Sentenced to 2½ Years in Federal Prison for Misappropriating $3.2 Million in Public Education Funds


LOS ANGELES – The founder and ex-chief executive officer of Celerity Educational Group, a Koreatown-based non-profit owner and operator of charter schools, was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for conspiring to misappropriate approximately $3.2 million in public education funds allocated to some of her company’s schools.

Vielka Maritza McFarlane, 56, of Sylmar, was sentenced by United States District Judge R. Gary Klausner, who told her, “If you want to help your students, you can teach them that if they make mistakes, they have to pay the price and be responsible for their own actions.”

McFarlane, who pleaded guilty on January 8 to one count of conspiracy to misappropriate and embezzle public funds, founded Celerity Educational Group in 2004 and served as its CEO until April 2015. Between April 2012 and April 2017, McFarlane also was CEO of Celerity Global Development, a non-profit California corporation, which provided various management services to the Celerity charter schools in exchange for a percentage of the schools’ revenues.

From July 2009 to April 2017, McFarlane and her co-conspirators caused the Celerity charter schools and Celerity Educational Group to falsely certify to federal, state and local authorities that they were complying with all rules and regulations governing the use of public funds that they received. McFarlane used public funds – money that should have been spent on educational purposes at Celerity charter schools in Los Angeles, Compton and Pasadena – for a variety of personal expenses and improper expenditures.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/charter-school-founder-and-ceo-sentenced-2-years-federal-prison-misappropriating-32