Tulsa Public Schools Lawsuit: Chris Hudgins Fraud Charges

Chris Hudgins, the former executive director of bond and energy management at Tulsa Public Schools, was charged on June 4, 2026, with 17 criminal counts as part of what Oklahoma prosecutors call a coordinated scheme to defraud the district of nearly $780,000 in voter-approved bond money. The Chris Hudgins Tulsa Public Schools fraud case, filed jointly by Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, also names two partners at a private engineering vendor and grew out of a state forensic audit released a year earlier.¹

The Charges

Hudgins was charged alongside Gayle Gwinup, 72, and Thomas McKenna, 61, both partners at Allied Engineering Group, a longtime TPS construction and engineering vendor. The case was filed in Tulsa County District Court as No. CF-2026-2291 and includes a combined 27 counts across the three defendants, with each individual facing 17.² The counts include conspiracy to defraud a school district, multiple counts of embezzlement, and multiple counts of making or receiving kickbacks. Each count carries a maximum sentence of ten years.³

Prosecutors filed by information rather than by grand jury indictment. Drummond said that decision was made to avoid the expiration of the statute of limitations on the kickback counts, and he added that his office would “more likely than not amend for additional charges” as the investigation continues. All three defendants were booked into the Tulsa County jail and later released on bond.⁴

How the Alleged Scheme Worked

According to prosecutors, Hudgins used his authority over TPS bond budgets and vendor selection to steer construction contracts to Allied Engineering. Allied would then subcontract work to M&G Consulting Services LLC, a private architectural firm Hudgins owned, for projects that were never actually performed. Allied kept roughly 5 percent of each TPS payment as a processing fee and funneled the remaining 95 percent to Hudgins’ company.²

Investigators allege the fraud ran from 2019 to 2024 and involved dozens of school roofing projects that were billed but never completed.⁵ In one series of transactions, TPS paid Allied $779,317.91, of which $736,878.64 was passed along to M&G. Prosecutors say McKenna also used a separate entity, Starr Design Group Inc., to extend the arrangement to additional TPS campuses.⁶

The larger business relationship dwarfed the specific transactions charged. Between September 2015 and July 2024, TPS paid Allied more than $8.4 million. In 2019 alone, Allied received $812,772 from the district and reported $319,024 in non-employee compensation to Hudgins, who was drawing a $120,000 TPS salary at the same time.²

In a May 8, 2026, interview with investigators, Gwinup said Allied had “no choice” in selecting subcontractors and that Hudgins told them which architects to use because “M&G was the head of the bond office.” She acknowledged Allied had no formal subcontracts with M&G and received no deliverables from Hudgins despite issuing payments, saying, “I was grown up under the old man’s word is the man’s word… so that is the way I have always operated.”²

Hudgins’ Position and His Private Firm

As executive director of bond and energy management, Hudgins controlled bond budgets, chose vendors, decided which construction projects moved forward, and approved contracts and payments. Audit records suggest his relationship with TPS and the vendors involved spanned more than 20 years.²

State auditors found that Hudgins ran M&G Consulting during regular work hours using TPS resources, including his district computer, office space, vehicle, and email accounts. On a November 2018 liability insurance application, he listed his TPS address as his business address and reported $80,000 in fees from his five largest projects over the previous five years, all of them architectural work at TPS locations. Auditors concluded he had violated TPS conflict-of-interest and vendor-disclosure policies.⁷

Hudgins resigned from TPS effective February 13, 2025, one day after the state audit was publicly released.⁷

How the Case Came to Light

The path to charges took roughly four years and started with an unrelated embezzlement at TPS. Between 2018 and 2022, former chief learning and talent officer Devin Fletcher fabricated invoices and purchase orders and directed more than $448,000 to a co-conspirator for consulting services that were never provided. Fletcher left the district in June 2022 and later pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.⁸

The Fletcher case prompted broader concern. In July 2022, TPS board members E’lena Ashley and Jennettie Marshall wrote to Governor Kevin Stitt describing a pattern of financial problems, and on July 7, 2022, Stitt formally asked the State Auditor and Inspector to conduct a special audit of the district.⁹

State Auditor Cindy Byrd released the resulting 64-page forensic audit on February 26, 2025. It covered TPS finances from 2015 through 2023 and identified more than 1,400 irregularities across 900 transactions involving at least 90 vendors, out of $37.7 million in expenditures reviewed. Nearly two-thirds of the spending examined, about $25 million, did not follow required bidding procedures, and auditors found administrators routinely structured payments just below the $50,000 threshold that would have triggered board oversight.¹⁰ Hudgins was singled out for receiving more than $300,000 from Allied Engineering while managing the district contracts that paid the firm.¹¹

The audit’s findings were referred to the attorney general, whose office launched its own forensic investigation focused on Hudgins and Allied. Drummond told reporters on the day charges were filed, “It is, in large part, the forensic audit that I am relying upon that gives us the information to proceed today.” Twelve TPS officials are listed as prosecution witnesses.⁵

The TPS Civil Lawsuit

The criminal case is not the district’s only recovery effort. On June 9, 2025, well before charges were filed, the TPS Board of Education voted at a special meeting to sue Hudgins and his personal business to recover taxpayer money it says was misappropriated. Board Vice President Calvin Moniz said the district would be “active and consistent in pursuing and recuperating those tax dollars that were potentially misspent.”¹²

Defense Response

Attorneys for all three defendants have denied wrongdoing.¹³ Allen Smallwood, representing McKenna, said everything his client did was “legal and contractually approved” and that McKenna “was never paid a kickback,” calling the case “a very defensible allegation.” Rick Cella, representing Hudgins, declined to comment. Corbin Brewster, representing Gwinup, did not respond to media requests.⁵ All three defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

What Comes Next

Both Drummond and Kunzweiler said the investigation is not finished. Kunzweiler described the June 2026 charges as “one step in the process,” and Drummond said his office “will continue to follow the evidence wherever it leads,” indicating the alleged offenses touch more than a dozen TPS buildings.⁶

Byrd has confirmed that a second forensic audit of TPS is underway at the attorney general’s request. She said the new work involves examining “specific situations to determine if there is any criminal activity” and may include subpoenas for bank records and vendor invoices, and she declined to share further details before its release.¹⁴ TPS Superintendent Ebony Johnson has cooperated with investigators, and the district says it has implemented significant safeguards and operational changes to its financial oversight since the events in question.⁵

1
Oklahoma Attorney General. Former Tulsa Schools Executive Charged in Bond Fraud Scheme
2
NonDoc. Coordinated Scheme To Defraud: Former TPS Admin Chris Hudgins Among Trio Charged
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KOSU. Tulsa Public Schools Fraud Charges
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KTUL. Former Tulsa Public Schools Executive Charged in Alleged $780,000 School Fund Scheme
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Oklahoma Voice. Former Tulsa Schools Official, Construction Contractors Charged With Stealing School Bond Money
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News On 6. Tulsa Public Schools Executives Charged in Fraud Scheme
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Tulsa World. Tulsa Schools Audit Findings on Bond Director Hudgins
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Southwest Ledger. Tulsa Schools Audit Discloses $824,503 Fraud, More Than 1,400 Discrepancies
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Office of the Governor. Governor Stitt Calls for Special Audit of Tulsa Public Schools
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KFOR. Lack of Financial Accountability: State Audit Says Tulsa Public Schools Failed Taxpayers
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KOSU. State Audit Says Tulsa Public Schools Failed To Provide Adequate Oversight of Finances
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KJRH. TPS Board of Education Votes To Pursue Legal Action Against Former Employee
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Radio Oklahoma News. Tulsa Public Schools Bond Fraud Charges Filed Against Former Official
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KTUL. Second Forensic Audit Underway at Tulsa Public Schools, State Investigators Confirm