The founder and executive director of a Boston private school is facing a lawsuit and fraud allegations after the school’s board says he hid millions of dollars of debt for years.
Croft School founder Scott Given was suspended from his position on March 7 after he told school administrators he had been keeping two sets of books to conceal around $13 million in debt, the board told families this week.
The truth came to light after the landlord of a South End building where Croft had planned an expansion attempted to cash a letter of credit Given had provided and determined that it was a forgery, according to a lawsuit the landlord filed against Given and the school on Tuesday.
School expansion plans gone wrong
On Jan. 29, Croft announced that it would be taking over the space currently occupied by Foodie’s Markets at 1421 Washington St., a neighborhood grocery store that is set to close in June, to expand its existing South End location. Though the store closure was unrelated to the school’s move-in, the announcement was immediately met by a community outcry from residents who did not want to lose one of the few grocery stores in the area…