How A Local Basketball Trainer Charged Kids $22K in Tuition to Attend (Free) Seattle Public School — and Got Away.
Forgery, impersonation, fraud. Abuse of homeless student programs. Six figure hush-money payouts. Local fraudsters feasting on schools and walking away scot-free. The Alan Sugiyama High School/Great Futures Prep scandal is the prototypical Seattle Public Schools scandal, complete with the unsatisfying conclusion.
A Nike-connected Seattle-area basketball trainer was granted access to the resources and trappings of a Seattle public high school, and next thing you know, parents were being charged $22,000 per year in tuition (to free public school) with the funds never showing up on SPS books, players were recruited from all over the world, McKinney-Vento homeless benefits abuse was used to circumvent state athletic eligiblity rules, the identities of uninvolved employees were hijacked and used to ghost-write emails and forge financial documents…and when a whistleblower brought it to light, she lost her job…the basketball agent walked away scott free…and the principal running the school took a $200K hush money payment from the district and exited stage right. It’s like all the greatest hits of Seattle Public Schools athletics. And this story broke this year — in 2025 — and we bet this is the first you’re hearing of it. This is part three in our ongoing look at the corruption inside Seattle Public Schools. Please check out the full story here and consider subscribing.
Previously:
Likely Ineligible, Five-Star Hooper Tyran Stokes' Short Stay at Rainier Beach is Just the Latest Problem for Scandal-Plagued District
RAINIER VALLEY, WA - Last month, the nation’s most highly-rated basketball recruit – Tyran Stokes, 6’7 small forward, five star recruit, three-time gold medalist and Nike-endorsed athlete – suddenly appeared at Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School, two days before the basketball season started, a trail of social media creators, sneaker reps and hoops agents in tow.
