INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WLFI) – A federal jury has convicted Phillip Holden, former director of operations for two Indiana online charter schools of 17 counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said the scheme generated more than $60 million in excess state education funding—the largest theft of public funds ever prosecuted in the Southern District of Indiana.
Evidence at the eight-day trial showed that Holden and other school officials inflated enrollment figures at Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy between 2016 and 2018. The schools allegedly counted inactive, ineligible and even deceased people as students to increase state payments. Prosecutors also said Holden retaliated against an employee who tried to report the alleged fraud…