UNDER the RADAR Park

$3.66 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER ©2019 WST D SUNDAY,MARCH 31, 2019 latimes.com ATIMESINVESTIGATION Chargedwith fraud, he blew whistleonthe college scandal Seeking leniency,L.A. businessman Morrie Tobin tipped off investigators to the admissions scheme. By Joel Rubin, MatthewOrmseth, SuhaunaHussain and Richard Winton MorrieTobin wasinBos- Morrie Tobin tontocut the deal of his life. MORRIE TOBIN had MelMelcon Los Angeles Times It wasearlyApril last agreed to payYale’s AN ADULT escortstwo studentsfrom Today’s Fresh Start Charter SchoolinInglewood.Beverly Hills year.Afew weeksbefore, fed- then-soccer coach to residentsClarkand Jeanette Parker founded it and twoother chartersinCompton and South Los Angeles. eral agentshad descended ensure his daughter got on the multimillion-dollar in, prosecutorssay. home Tobin shares with his wife and some of their six vestors and, in the end, he childreninL.A.’sHancock might getsome leniency. UNDER THE RADAR Park. But Tobin, 55,had some- Warrant in hand, the thing else to offerup—a agents searched the French nuggetofinformation that chateau-style mansion for fi- had nothingtodowith stock Wealthycouple’shighlylucrativeoperation, despite yearsof nancial recordsand other markets. He hoped it would evidence to nail Tobin, the interest prosecutors and tip suspected ringleader of a the scales abit further in his allegations of financial andacademic wrongdoing, illustrates stock scam that defrauded favor. investors of millions of dol- When Andrew Lelling, the glaring flaws in California’s regulation of charter schools lars. the U.S. Attorney for Massa- The raid imploded To- chusetts, unveiled asweep- bin’s very comfortable life. ing investigation intoacol- By Anna M. Phillips model Mercedes-Benz outside the Faced with the prospect of lege admissions cheating Firstofthree parts school, shewould think: “Look at years in prison and aseven- scam earlier this month, he your school, then look at what you figure fine, the businessman made acryptic reference to The warning signs appeared drive.” flew to Boston to meet with howhis investigators had soon afterDenise Kawamotoac- “That didn’t sit well with us the federal prosecutors han- uncovered the alleged con- cepted ajob at Today’s Fresh Start teachers,” she said. dling the case. He waslook- spiracy. CharterSchoolinSouth Los Ange- The Parkers have cast them- ing for mercy. “Our firstleadinthis les. selvesasselfless philanthropists, They offeredhim astand- came duringinterviews with Though she wasfresh outofcol- telling the CaliforniaBoardofEdu- arddeal: Come clean about atargetofanentirelysepa- lege,she wasprettysureitwasn’t cation thatthey have “devotedall of the conjob he had runonin- [See Tobin, A16] normal for the school to churn so our lives to the education of other quickly through teachers or to people’schildren, committedmany mountsurveillance camerasineach millions of ourown dollars directly classroom. Old computers were ly- to that particular purpose, with no ■■■ ELECTION 2020 ■■■ ing around, butthe campus had no gain directly to us.” internet access. Pay waslow and But the couple have,infact, supplies scarce —she wasn’t given made millions from their charter Embracing new era booksfor her students. schools. Financial recordsshowthe She struggled to reconcile the Parkers’ schools have paid more school’sconditionswith what little LA SchoolReport than$800,000annually to rent build- she knewabout its wealthy found- MANY of the people responsible ingsthe couple own. Thecharters forblack candidates ers, Clarkand Jeanette Parkerof forregulating the Parkers’ schools have contractedout services to the Beverly Hills. had accepted thousands of dollars Parkers’ nonprofits and companies When Kawamoto sawtheir late- from them in campaign donations. and paid [See Charters, A10] tions of racism, the two Booker and Harris are Democrats areredefining the ideaofwhat it means to defining what it means be ablackpresidentialcan- Trump to cut to runfor president didate. post-Obama. In their tone, their words, nations’ aid wheretheytraveland which audiences they choose, the in retaliation By Jaweed Kaleem senators have embraced and Melanie Mason their black identities and fol- The president says El lowers in ways unprecedent- Salvador,Honduras CoryBookertalks ed for mainstream presi- and Guatemala aren’t frankly about racism as he dentialhopefuls. doing enough to curb campaigns, pointing out They stand in starkcon- migration. WORLD,A4 howthe “darkspirit of big- trast to BarackObama, who otry” waspartofthe nation’s early in his 2008 campaign Offshore drilling founding and urging crowds avoided talking about his ban is upheld to speakthe truth about race to the pointthat the JudgerejectsTrump’s prejudice. [See Candidates, A14] order revoking Obama Kamala Harrisbluntly rule in the Arctic and tells supporters that racism is apotent force in society, O’Rourke kicks Atlantic. NATION, A8 saying Americans have for offhis campaign Weather toolong avoided confronting Mostlysunny, warm. the “awful, shamelesshis- Texas Democrathas set L.A. Basin: 85/60. B10 tory on race in this country.” high expectations. Can In 2019,morethan adec- he meet them? A15 Printed with soy inkson partially recycled paper. ade afterthe nation made Allegation could historybyelecting its first blackpresident, and halfway harm aBiden run MarcMartin Los Angeles Times through the term of apresi- Anew claim of uninvited LY TONG,aself-described “freedom fighter,” flips through abooklet describ- dent whose wordsand ac- touching maycosthim ing his past exploitsduring avisit to Little Saigon in We stminster in 2008. tions have drawn accusa- female votes. A13 On his final approach ‘VietnameseJames Bond,’ an ex-fighterpilot,isa polarizing anti-communist figureinfailing health California Jewels Alongtime supporter,Thien Thanh Los Angeles |April 15, 10am By AnhDo Nguyen, leaned towardhim. “If youcan hear me, pleaselet me know,”hesaid. They calledhim the VietnameseJames In acoma since March 21,Tong turned NewYork Jewels Bond. his head slightly. New York |May 1, 1pm On aSeptemberday in 19 92,LyTong “He’stryinghis best,”Nguyensaid. hijacked an Airbus A310 on acharterflight FormanyVietnamese immigrants from for Vietnam Airlines, flew over Ho Chi the older generation —staunchRepubli- LOS ANGELES PREVIEW Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, and cans and parents and grandparents who April 11-14 dropped his munition: thousands of little sawtheir progeny become increasingly paperbombs calling for the overthrow of liberal—Tong, 74,was an uncompromising INQUIRIES the communist government. enemy against communism.And that, in +1 (323) 436 5424 Afterthe rain of leaflets,hejumped their eyes, made him ahero. from the aircraft, parachuting right intoa “Many Vietnamese in the community [email protected] swamp. respect howherisked himself in thename bonhams.com/jewelry Today,hookedtotubes, the former of freedom for everyone,” said Hao Thai Cu, SouthVietnamesefighter pilot lies on a presidentofthe South Vietnamese Air Bonhams hospitalbed in San Diegoand battles for ForceAssn. of SanDiego.Cuiscoordinat- 7601 W. Sunset Blvd consciousness as he nears his final descent, ing Tong’s medical treatment and promis- Los Angeles, CA 90046 diagnosed with liver disease. es that the group [See Pilot, A12] ©2019Bonhams &ButterfieldsAuctioneers Corp. All rights reserved. Bond No. 57BSBGL0808 A10 SUNDAY, MARCH31, 2019 S LATIMES.COM Christina House Los Angeles Times YANIN ARDILA and Denise Kawamoto, former teachers at Today’s Fresh Start Charter School in South L.A., questioned the way the Parkers operated the campus. THE BUSINESS OF SCHOOLS [Charters, from A1] dent of the Beverly Hills Republi- Clark Parker generous consulting can Club, author of the self-pub- fees, all with taxpayer money, a lished book “Will You Marry Me? Times investigation found. Jesus Christ Proposes to You!” and Presented with The Times’ aregular contributor to L.A.’s larg- findings, the Parkers did not re- est black newspaper, the Los Ange- spond to multiple requests for les Sentinel, which publishes her comment. columns on topics such as single How the Parkers have stayed in motherhood and why eggs come in business, surviving years of allega- many colors. As superintendent of tions of financial and academic Today’s Fresh Start, she is paid an wrongdoing, illustrates glaring annual salary of about $285,000. flaws in the way California oversees Her husband, Clark, is a its growing number of charter businessman, a vendor of security schools. devices and a real estate developer Many of the people responsible who, in an online biography, says for regulating the couple’s schools, he has “developed hundreds of including school board members commercial and residential prop- and state elected officials, had ac- erties” in Southern California. He cepted thousands of dollars from sits on the board of the South the Parkers in campaign contrib- Coast Air Quality Management utions. District and lists among his acco- Like other charter operators lades the title of honorary consul who have run into trouble, the general of the Central African Re- Parkers were able to appeal to the public. state Board of Education when The Parkers are in their 70s. Be- they faced the threat of being shut tween them, they have two PhDs down; the panel is known for over- and a doctorate of theology from turning local regulators’ decisions. the University of Central Arizona ATimes analysis of the state (a two-man operation forced to board’s decisions has found that, stop conferring degrees in 1980, ac- over

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