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Friday, January 15, 2021

SUBPOENA ENVY! Foot-Dragging By Grand Traverse Academy Spurs Federal Subpoena Ordering Release Of Full Spectrum-Related Documents; Judge Approves Bankruptcy Trustee's Request For Docs Related To GTA/Full Spectrum Management Financial Dealings


 

BREAKING NEWS: U. S. Bankruptcy Judge James W. Boyd granted a subpoena request yesterday submitted January 13, 2021 by Full Spectrum Management's bankruptcy trustee, compelling document production by the Grand Traverse Academy.

According to the trustee's motion, multiple requests for documents made by the trustee to the Grand Traverse Academy's attorney, Miller Canfield's Danielle Mason Anderson, have provided only incomplete documentation relating to Noss, Full Spectrum and "all board resolutions, notes, memos, and emails relating to the renewal or modification of the Educational Provider Agreement entered into between" Full Spectrum and the GTA on October 1, 2015.

In lieu of a personal guaranty, Traverse City State Bank (now Independent Bank) accepted Mark Noss's Full Spectrum Management agreement with the GTA as collateral for Steven Ingersoll's $925,000 indebtedness Noss was assuming. In its March 20, 2014 Commercial Security Agreement with the Bank, Full Spectrum secured the debt by "all business assets of Full Spectrum Management previously held by SSM, Inc." Full Spectrum also pledged to the Bank, through an Assignment of Agreement as Collateral, a security interest in its rights to the Educational Provider Agreement inked by Noss on behalf of Full Spectrum Management on March 19, 2014.

But there was a problem with that contract: it was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2016.

During its September 18, 2015 board meeting, without any prior public disclosures or explanation, the GTA board handed the Bank an extraordinary gift: its members voted unanimously to extend the term of Full Spectrum's management agreement from June 30, 2016 to June 30, 2021.

The new agreement was delivered to the bank by Mark Noss on October 1, 2015.

The Grand Traverse Academy was ordered to provide requested documents in electronic form to the the bankruptcy trustee's Rochester Hills, Michigan, office no later than 5:00p.m. on February 5, 2021.

 

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

TODAY IN CORPORATE WELFARE: Two-Man Charter School Management Company Co-Founded By Brian Lynch Scored PPP Loan Claiming $1.7 Million In Payroll Expenses; "Loan" Income Does Not Appear On Bay City Academy Financials

Here's something to ponder as you wait for your itty-bitty $600 stimulus check: the two-man charter school management company co-founded on April 10, 2015 by Brian Lynch and Michael Randel scored a PPP Loan in April 2020. Mitten Educational Management was founded to assume control of the Bay City Academy and sister school, Mancelona's North Central Academy, in the wake of former manager Steven Ingersoll's criminal tax fraud crash.

Detail shown below (gleaned from a comprehensive database reporting on the Treasury Department's Paycheck Protection Program loan program) reveals Mitten Educational Management received approval for a $368,800 loan in April 2020.

The management firm run by Lynch, son-in-law of disgraced charter school management hump, Mark Noss (currently embroiled in a messy business bankruptcy) qualified for the loan by claiming $1.77 million in "Mitten Educational Management payroll expenses". Those expenses are directly attributed to Bay City Academy/North Central Academy staffers, who are legally considered employees of the management company, and not the individual charter school.

In addition to Lynch's firm receiving a management fee of nearly $320,000 for the 2019/2020 fiscal year, Lynch was paid an $83,050 compensation package for his gig as the Bay City Academy's Superintendent.

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers may be eligible for loan forgiveness if the funds were used for eligible payroll costs, payments on business mortgage interest payment, rent, or utilities during either the 8- or 24-week period after disbursement. A borrower can apply for forgiveness once it has used all loan proceeds for which the borrower is requesting forgiveness.


 

The Bay City Academy's most recent annual balance sheet, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, shows the school is nearly -$800,000 in the hole... a lingering hangover of Steven Ingersoll's plundering the school's coffers of nearly $1.4 million.

Who ever said crime doesn't pay?