Chicago Board of Education president D. Sharon Grant hit with tax evasion charges

Jet, July 10, 1995

D. Sharon Grant, president of the Chicago Board of Education, was recently charged with federal and state income tax evasion.

Calling Grant's actions "intentional" and "deceptive," U.S. Attorney James Burns said she had not filed a federal income tax return since 1977.

The federal charges cite her for failing to file in just one year, 1993. However, from 1988 through 1993, she received income of more than $1 million from a business concern and owes about $350,000 in back taxes.

Burns alleges that Grant, 54, deliberately misled federal authorities about her finances as late as last October, when she provided his office with phony federal income tax returns for 1990-1992, which she said had been properly filed.

Grant has said that she and her attorney had reached a plea bargain agreement with the U.S. attorney's office. Under the agreement, Grant said she would plead guilty to criminal information, avoiding a grand jury indictment and agree to repay the $350,000 owed to the government.

But Burns would not confirm there was any such plea bargain agreement and strongly suggested that the federal government would seek to imprison Grant, who could be given a minimum of two years under federal sentencing guidelines.

Meanwhile, a Cook County grand jury indicted her on three felony counts of failure to file an Illinois income tax return for 1990, 1991 and 1992, and one misdemeanor count of tax evasion.

Cook County State's Attorney Jack O'Malley said he couldn't give a precise figure on Grant's tax liability, but estimated it's "less than $50,000." He said Grant could face up to three years in prison.

Before the charges were made public, Grant, who took over as school board president in 1993, said she had neglected to file returns because "I was young and didn't know what I was supposed to do."

But Burns argued, "This was not a case of carelessness. This was not a case of forgetfulness. Once Miss Grant stopped filing her returns and paying her taxes in 1977, she set forth on a deliberate course to evade her income tax obligations."

The bulk of Grant's unreported income came from Concerned Health Care of America, Inc., a company specializing in managing the treatment of mental health problems and substance abuse.

Grant owned 45 percent of the company and was being paid a big salary as a consultant. The government claims that by working as a consultant, Grant avoided even paying withholding taxes from a regular paycheck.

Instead, the government alleges, Grant deposited her payments in various Chicago financial institutions, including about $644,000 in one bank in which she used a false name and social security number.