Your Honor, I want to be unequivocal.
I am solely accountable for the decision to transfer the funds the government identified. I wish every single day that I had not done so. My actions caused harm to Democracy Prep public schools in ways that I deeply regret. I feel a constant sense of remorse and shame.
And I especially do not blame the victim. On the contrary, I have now and always have had the utmost respect for, and enthusiastic sense of pride in, the schools and organizations we founded over the past two decades and the thousands of students they serve. I continue to believe in them and their essential civic mission.
I hope that future students can learn from my mistakes and from my sincere accountability. I want to speak authentically and directly to those who I hurt - the schools, our alumni, my community, my friends, my loved ones, this court, my God - and I am profoundly sorry and ask for their forgiveness.