Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused Tim King, the embattled founder and former CEO of Urban Prep Academies, of stealing more than $100,000 from the charter network.
In 2021 and 2022, King allegedly embezzled $103,833.33 from the charter network to cover personal credit card charges, according to a newly unsealed grand jury indictment.
After learning of the criminal investigation in 2022, King attempted to obstruct justice by deleting online records, prosecutors alleged in court documents.
King, 59, was once nationally celebrated for founding the publicly funded, privately operated charter network serving young Black men in 2002.
King’s defense attorney, Christopher V. Parente, called the indictment’s allegations “false and absurd” in a statement Wednesday. King will be cleared in court, he said, noting he has spent his career “working to change the narrative around young Black men.”
“The allegations against Mr. King are not merely wrong, they are fundamentally at odds with the record of his life’s work,” Parente said.
King resigned from his post at Urban Prep in 2022 after an investigation from Chicago Public Schools’ office of the inspector general substantiated allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct with a student, which King has denied.
King later sued CPS, and in October, a Cook County judge ordered the district to conduct a new investigation, noting the student has recanted the allegations.
Urban Prep, meanwhile, is embroiled in a legal battle with CPS to keep its two high schools open in the Bronzeville and Englewood neighborhoods amid mounting financial woes. At its peak, the network enrolled 1,500 students across three campuses. Now, fewer than 200 students attend.
For years, the network was widely praised for reporting that 100% of its graduates were accepted to four-year colleges.
According to the indictment, King allegedly first siphoned $54,414 from Urban Prep to his American Express account in 2021. Prosecutors allege he stole another $49,419 the following year, according to court documents. As a charter operator, Urban Prep receives federal grants and per-pupil funding from CPS.
King faces two counts of federal program theft and one count of obstruction of justice, with a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. His arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
“Mr. King is presumed innocent, and he intends to contest these charges fully and forcefully in court,” Parente said. “We are confident that when the facts are tested through the legal process, these allegations will not withstand scrutiny.”
