After an almost two-year recess caused by procedural delays, the preliminary hearings for Epic Charter Schools co-founders Ben Harris and David Chaney concluded Friday after three additional days of testimony by their former chief financial officer, Josh Brock, who originally took the stand in 2024 before the lengthy recess.
Oklahoma County District Court Special Judge Jason Glidewell must decide if prosecutors have presented enough probable cause for there to be a full trial over the racketeering, embezzlement and conspiracy charges filed against them in 2022. Brock had originally been charged alongside Harris and Chaney, but he ultimately chose to testify for prosecutors as part of a plea agreement. Glidewell is expected to announce his decision in court April 16.
For the first two days of the renewed hearings, Jimmy Harmon, chief of the Attorney General’s Office Criminal Division and Harris’ attorney, Joe White, peppered Brock with questions while trading collegial barbs and objections.
Harmon attempted to paint Harris and Chaney as schemers who created Epic Youth Services as a shell company into which they could divert $0.10 of every $1 of state funding. White, meanwhile, called them “transparent as glass” and characterized them as innovators in an education sector that had unmet demand from families seeking flexibility.
“To suggest they did not profit from [improper transactions] is preposterous,” Harmon said.
On Friday, the frustration mounted between the two attorneys. Commenting on White’s all-green suit, tie and Caiman-skinned boots from Tecovas, Harmon called White “the world’s largest leprechaun.”
White had objected to Harmon’s questions for Brock as irrelevant. His objection was ultimately overruled, but not before the two traded ad hominem attacks. White told Harmon to “grow up” and said he wished he “had an opportunity with him” after Harmon’s response to the objection included comments about “reasonable lawyers.”
Glidewell reminded the counselors that he has no qualms about stepping in to control his courtroom, despite his calm demeanor and the time it takes for him to “get to a boil.”
White and Harmon also traded shots Thursday.
“That is the most tortured, unnatural reading of that statute,” Harmon said during a back-and-forth over a legal interpretation.
White shot back.
“Thankfully, he is not the professor I studied under at OU,” White said.
Throughout Thursday, White delivered most of the lurid lines — aside from Harmon’s objections — as he continued to pursue a defense rooted in the past legal advice Harris and Chaney had received, a theory he began constructing nearly two years ago.
In March 2024, White said he wanted to know why Harris was being prosecuted “when he relied on two of the top education attorneys in the state,” referring to Bill Hickman and Brad Clark, who previously served as legal counsel for Epic Charter Schools. Of particular irony in White’s eyes is that Clark now serves as general counsel for Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office.
White also reiterated his claim that the tens of millions of dollars in question were “private” instead of public owing to how Epic Charter Schools contracted with Epic Youth Services after receiving payment by the state.
“Owners cannot embezzle their own private money,” White said Thursday.
Earlier in the day, as White persisted in establishing his theory, Harmon argued the nature of the money at hand is not an essential part of the charges.
“I realize that the defense’s argument is that public funds is an element of the offense. It is not,” Harmon said.
In a statement to KFOR, Chaney’s attorney, Gary Wood, said the state admitted Harris and Chaney did not embezzle public funds. He said bank records admitted by the state as exhibits show that Epic Youth Services, the management company owned by Harris and Chaney, was the sole owner of the funds in question.
During his cross-examination, White emphasized his argument that the two men operated on “advice of counsel.” He was intent on noting the copious amount of lawyers that sat on the board of Community Strategies Inc., — Epic Charter Schools’ governing entity — and that were present in setting up various aspects of the business. At one point, following an objection by Harmon, Glidewell said the presence of attorneys throughout Epic’s operations had been well established. Along with Hickman and Clark, Elizabeth “Libby” Scott of Crowe & Dunlevy, who was in the courtroom all three days, was named as an example of such an attorney.
White argued that fraudsters do not obtain help during the course of their business from high-profile firms such as Crowe & Dunlevy or McAfee & Taft, which Brock testified had helped in the formation of the CS-CA LLC that operated Epic California. White said dubious actors might seek such counsel in the aftermath to “ask for forgiveness,” but not proactively.
During his examination of Brock before White took over, Harmon sought to establish that the trio “controlled” the internal oversight bodies that approved their business operations, such as the Community Strategies board. Brock testified that Harris and Chaney maintained a level of control because of the personal relationships they had with board members. White objected to the use of the word “control,” which Glidewell sustained before Brock testified that they did have “control.” White moved to strike that language from the court’s record.
“Now they are saying they are puppets,” White said.
Harmon chimed in.
“If that is not control, then what is?” he asked.
Harmon and White then entered into a back-and-forth over White’s knowledge of local school boards after he suggested that local school superintendents have control of their local school boards because they commonly know the individuals.
Learning fund, Ed Tech, political connections reexamined
During his redirect Friday, Harmon circled back to board control and the trio’s influence, specifically related to the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board. Brock testified that there were “certain members” of the board who were more friendly to them, including Phyllis Shepherd, whom the Tulsa World reported as being Chaney’s aunt. Brock said he knew the two were at least distant relatives “based on internal conversations.”
He also testified that Chaney was able to convince Mathew Hamrick, who was at one point the chairman of the statewide board, to remove an agenda item requesting an audit of Epic before a meeting in “early 2019.” He said Chaney took credit for the agenda change, although later in the day, Brock testified that he did not know exactly who had removed the agenda item.
Brock testified that an additional member of the board was considered an ally but did not go into specifics as to how or why, only that they were thought of highly. The SVCSB made Hamrick and Shepherd recuse from any matters related to Epic in 2020. Brock also testified that he could not recall if the individuals who had relationships with Chaney sat on the board at the same time.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Harmon asked Brock a series of questions to reexamine the trio’s influence and political involvement. Brock testified that the three men sought to support an insurgent campaign against State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd as “retribution” for her 2020 audit that drew increased media attention and intensified scrutiny that had been ongoing for years.
“The audit did us no favors,” Brock said.
Brock testified that his co-defendants sought to recruit him as a candidate, but after meeting with political consultant David Tackett — whom he said had a relationship with the trio through Epic Youth Services that extended beyond a possible campaign against Byrd — he chose not to run.
Instead, Brock said he was directed to donate the maximum allowable contribution to the campaigns of former Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister and Rep. Preston Stinson (R-Edmond), who served on the board of Epic California. During Wood’s cross-examination, Brock said he supported the candidates and had “autonomy” over his decision.
Brock also testified to the trio’s efforts to defeat former Sen. Ron Sharp (R-Shawnee) in his 2020 reelection bid. He said they did not narrow their support to a single candidate, instead taking a multi-pronged approach.
In his testimony, Brock said Harris considered Epic Charter Schools’ controversial “learning fund” as a “golden parachute” and that the trio recognized the opportunity to access millions of dollars through it. The learning fund was managed by EYS and gave students between $800 and $1,000 a year to use they wished, minus expenses for shipping and handling and with a requirement that purchased equipment be returned to the school. Brock said the learning fund was a draw for students and families as Epic’s enrollment skyrocketed. Harmon claimed the trio used the fund to supplement financial shortfalls elsewhere.
“The piggy bank — the pot of gold, whatever — was this learning fund, and they kept going back to it when they ran out of money,” Harmon said.
White and Wood both objected to the line of questioning.
“This cannot continue,” Wood said. “I am asking you to not allow them to make statements like this.”
“They are all false,” White interjected as Wood requested a recess.
Glidewell granted the recess and, afterward, noted the “very talented attorneys” arguing the case, which he called highly emotional while asking for counsel to remain calm.
“Slow boil rather than a rolling boil,” Glidewell implored.
Brock also testified about the purpose of a company called “Ed Tech,” which Brock said was used to justify the 10 percent management fee EYS received from Epic Charter Schools and to shield certain records from becoming public. He also testified that Crowe & Dunlevy was involved in the formation of the company.
Asked if Ed Tech was a shell company, Brock paused before noting that it had assets.
“It was an entity created legally as it relates to the state of Oklahoma,” Brock said.
In his redirect Friday, Harmon also revisited a $100,000 loan to Panola Public Schools. Earlier in the week, Brock had testified that the loan was made out of the learning fund by mistake and that he transferred money out of the EYS general fund the same day to rectify the error.
Harmon showed Brock bank statements from June 2017. Asked if he saw a $100,000 transfer from the general fund to the learning fund, Brock said he did not. During White’s cross-examination after Harmon’s redirect, Brock said Panola Public Schools would have closed without the funds. Still, he said he now believes his actions that day were a mistake.
