Christina Board member failed to disclose ties to shell companies billing district

In August 2020, Longfellow sent Latif, the Tarbiyah school director, a letter telling her to stop charging the school district for services.

“We have every reason to believe that Tristate Health Consulting Inc … is operated by Naveed Baqir, with whom you share an address and to whom you are or were married,” the letter obtained by WHYY News states. “As required by law, we invite you to consult with us on the lack of independence between Tarbiyah and the Tristate entities, and in the interim will immediately fund services to be rendered by companies independent of you and your family.”

The letter said Silber had reported the situation to the auditor and the district was waiting on the auditor to take action. Longfellow, now a consultant, said he never heard back from the auditor’s office.

The school district began to be billed for professional development services for the Tarbiyah School later that year by a vendor named AVM Solutions LLC. That company is registered by Antonio Adams, who is shown on the Tarbiyah School’s 2015 webpage to be the director of finance. The owners of the Wilmington address listed for the shell company are Antonio and Monica Adams. Monica is listed on the Tarbiyah School 2015 webpage as school board president.

AVM Solutions billed the Christina School District from December 2020 to June 2022 for a total of $59,000 for professional development services.

“It wouldn’t have been obvious to us that AVM was another company of Naveed’s if that’s the case,” Longfellow said. “At the time, it must have seemed like a legitimate expense.”

Christina School Board members Monica Moriak and Doug Manley said they’re concerned about the grand jury investigation and shell companies connected to Baqir billing the school district.

Manley said he believes Baqir has lived out of the state since January which would already preclude him from board membership, but if he is a member, he argued he could be removed for certain illegal activity.

“If I recall correctly, there are basically two categories of crime that can get you removed from a school board,” Manley said. “One of them is any kind of abuse or things related to children, but the other is financial. And, you know, given the school board’s position with regard to lots and lots of public money, financial stuff is super serious.”

The next Christina School Board meeting is on August 13th. The General Assembly mandated that the Delaware Department of Justice monitor the board over the next year because of the board’s violation of the Freedom of Information Act in public meetings.