The former top operations chief for Chicago Public Schools has been charged in a federal indictment with COVID-19 fraud alleging she lied about income generated by a side business to obtain more than $25,000 in pandemic-related loans.
Crystal Cooper, 47, who resigned as chief operating officer in 2023 amid an investigation by the CPS inspector general, was charged in the indictment filed under seal in May with three counts of wire fraud, court records show.
The indictment was unsealed during her initial court appearance on July 23, where Cooper pleaded not guilty and was ordered released on an unsecured $10,000 bond, court records show.
Cooper’s attorney, Andrew Erskine, declined to comment Tuesday.
According to the charges, over a yearlong period beginning in June 2020, Cooper applied for two separate loans involving the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, which were intended to keep small business owners and other vulnerable workers afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To qualify for increased disbursements, Cooper falsely reported the amount of revenue generated by a side business she owned, according to the charges. As part of the PPP loan, Cooper submitted false tax documents representing the business had $75,000 in gross income in the 2020 tax year, which was substantially higher than the actual amount generated, the charges alleged.
As a result, Cooper fraudulently obtained about $28,000 in loans that were forgiven by the government and which she spent for her “personal use and benefit,” the indictment stated.
The indictment does not provide any information about Cooper’s side business, but her LinkedIn profile and public records indicate she’s the co-owner of a general contracting firm called Suite 1367 Development LLC.
At the time the alleged fraud began, Cooper was serving as CPS’ director of nutrition support services, which played a crucial role in delivering meals to students while schools were shuttered due to the pandemic.
“If grandparents are having kids from down south or up north or wherever, they can bring the whole family out,” Cooper told the Tribune in September 2020, saying more than 21 million meals had been provided during the first six months of the lockdown. “If you have little cousins, nieces, or nephews, or friends, bring them all.”
Cooper was promoted in 2021 to chief of staff to then-CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who elevated her to chief operations officer the next year, according to Cooper’s LinkedIn.
At the time of her resignation, Cooper was earning a taxpayer-funded salary of over $200,000, making her among the highest-ranking public employees in Chicago to be charged with COVID-19 fraud in the past six years, according to court records and information provided in a September 2023 report by the CPS inspector general.
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The IG report, which did not identify Cooper by name, said she admitted in an interview with internal investigators that she had hidden the income from her side business for her entire tenure as a CPS employee.
“The evidence also showed that the administrator did not disclose any outside income on any of their Statements of Business and Financial Interests that they filed with CPS for several years,” the report stated.
Following the interview, Cooper resigned, and a “do not hire” designation was put in her personnel file, according to the report.