On Theft & Fraud Closer to Home

 

Hard to believe the type of fraud recently revealed to have been going on in other states was also happening much closer to home. This week, Mlive, under the heading of "Ex-CEO pleads guilty in $1.4M fraud at childhood learning nonprofit" published as news the fact that Nkechy Ezeh, a former Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointee and professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI, "is now facing two decades in prison after pleading guilty in December to wire fraud and stealing more than $1 million from an early education nonprofit".

In a 2022 profile for Voyage Michigan, Ezeh described how she came to America from Nigeria with a high school diploma and worked through "structural racism" while raising five children, to attend Community College, and later earn a doctorate degree and land a full tenured professorship at Aquinas College. In 2011 she founded the ELNC- Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative and ran it as CEO until "the nonprofit launched an internal investigation in early 2023 after a whistleblower's complaint relating to Dr. Ezeh’s alleged conduct, specifically referencing her alleged “reckless spending. The lawsuit that followed claimed the investigation found that Dr. Ezeh had used “a web of interrelated organizations to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to herself, as well as to her family and friends — money that should have been used to support at-risk youth.”

From the Mlive account, on January 14, 2026: "Nkechy Ezeh, founder and CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, "pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that forced the nonprofit to shut down after a dozen years preparing about 8,000 preschoolers for kindergarten in Kent County, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.

Ezeh worked with ELNC bookkeeper Sharon Killebrew to create nearly $500,000 in fake invoices, as well as created fake daycare businesses to siphon off hundreds of thousands of dollars more, which Ezeh used for personal travel to Hawaii, Nigeria and Liberia, according to court documents cited by the news site. Ezeh’s attorney, Mary Chartier, told MLive her client “is committed to taking full responsibility and accountability for her actions. “She is deeply remorseful to anyone who has been negatively impacted,” Chartier said. ELNC President Amy DeLeeuw offered a decidedly different perspective following Ezeh’s plea hearing in U.S. District Court on Jan. 14, noting in a statement the former CEO’s “failure to meaningfully articulate the nature and scope of her criminal misconduct.” “Her theft of million of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all encompassing and unconscionable,” DeLeeuw said. “To date, Nkechy has made no effort to repay any of the millions of dollars she stole from ELNC,” the statement read. “I trust Nkechy’s demeanor at today’s hearing did not go unnoticed by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou. I and the board will have more to say in our victim impact statement and look forward to her sentencing hearing on May 13.” Killebrew pleaded guilty earlier this year to engaging in conspiracy to defraud a federally funded program of $1,170,935 and tax evasion, and was sentenced to four years, six months in prison. Ezeh agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Early Head Start Programs and other organizations as part of her plea agreement, which also detailed $390,000 in back taxes, according to media reports."