Vendor in School $2.7M Corruption Case Pleads Guilty

DETROIT, MI – The vendor at the center of a Detroit Public Schools multi-million-dollar kickback and bribery scheme pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to charges that could send him to prison for nearly seven years.

Norman Shy, 74, of Franklin, owner of Allstate Sales, was accused of conspiring with 12 current and former principals and one assistant superintendent from 2002 to 2015 to certify and submit fraudulent invoices for school supplies that were never delivered.

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

Under the deal reached in U.S. District Court, Shy was ordered to make restitution to the school district in the amount of $2.7 million to cover the phony invoices, and also pay taxes in the amount of $51,667 to the IRS.

During part of the time Shy was falsely billing the school district, some of its students were attending rat-infested schools with no heat and leaking roofs. At the same time, he was living in an opulent mansion in Farmington Hills.

Christopher Andreoff, Shy’s attorney, previously said that Shy has major health problems and that restitution would be “a horrible financial setback for him and his family."

See Also

• 13 Detroit School Administrators Stole $1M: Feds
• Ellen DeGeneres Reveals $500K Surprise for Detroit School
• Ellen’s $500K Gift to Detroit School Still On Despite Bribery Scandal
• Key Figure in DPS Corruption Lived Large in Farmington Hills