Boston private school in crisis after founder accused of years of financial fraud
The founder and executive director of a Boston private school is facing a lawsuit and fraud allegations after the school's board says he hid millions of dollars of debt for years.
Croft School founder Scott Given was suspended from his position on March 7 after he told school administrators he had been keeping two sets of books to conceal around $13 million in debt, the board told families this week.
The truth came to light after the landlord of a South End building where Croft had planned an expansion attempted to cash a letter of credit Given had provided and determined that it was a forgery, according to a lawsuit the landlord filed against Given and the school on Tuesday.
School expansion plans gone wrong
On Jan. 29, Croft announced that it would be taking over the space currently occupied by Foodie's Markets at 1421 Washington St., a neighborhood grocery store that is set to close in June , to expand its existing South End location. Though the store closure was unrelated to the school's move-in, the announcement was immediately met by a community outcry from residents who did not want to lose one of the few grocery stores in the area.
Croft first opened in 2017 in Providence, Rhode Island, according to its website . Its two other locations are in Jamaica Plain, which opened in 2020, and the South End, which opened in 2022.
Just days later, on Feb. 6, the school reversed course, saying it would no longer be expanding into the property because of the feedback received from neighbors.
However, the landlord of the property, 1421 Washington Associates LLC, said in their lawsuit this week that Croft had already signed a lease in December and backing out of the plans was a violation of the lease.
Washington Associates claimed in their complaint, filed in Suffolk County Superior Court, that Given reached out to them in July 2025 to inquire about the building. They signed a lease in December agreeing to a starting annual rent of $1.25 million and a contract of 10 years, with an option to extend the agreement an additional 10 years after that.
Though the school would need to seek a conditional use permit from the city to use the building for education, as the zoning code did not allow it by-right in that location, Croft administrators assured Washington Associates that they were committed to the property and did not believe the permit would be an issue, according to the lawsuit.
Washington Associates had recommended against announcing the school's expansion plans immediately after Foodie's announced its impending closure, to give the community time to come to terms with it, according to the lawsuit. But Given said he wanted to announce it as soon as possible to secure enrollment for the next year.
Despite the community outrage, as late as Feb. 5, Croft leaders and Given assured Washington Associates that they had been expecting some level of pushback and would not be deterred from the plans, according to the lawsuit. But the next day, the Washington Associates team received an email "out of the blue" at about 1:15 p.m. requesting a Zoom call 30 minutes later.
In that meeting, Given, Chief Operating Officer Kate Mahoney and Chief Program Officer Erin Walsh-Hagan said they would no longer be going ahead with the school expansion at that location, according to Washington Associates manager Ted Lubitz, the only member of the landlord team who was available for the last-minute call.
Given said during the meeting that the previous night, Croft had held a community meeting with South End neighbors, according to Lubitz. During that meeting, Given learned that one community member intended to report the school to the city for operating at its South End location without the proper permits.
"You then informed me that the properties that Croft currently occupies are not properly zoned and that you could not risk them being closed," Lubitz wrote in a Feb. 24 letter to Given and the school. "You viewed this threat as a legitimate threat to Croft's existing businesses and, it was in Croft's long term business interest, to walk away."
Lubitz wrote that he asked the Croft team to hold off on announcing their decision and reconsider. He attempted to call multiple Croft leaders after the meeting and at about 3:15 p.m. received a call back from Mahoney, who told him the school had already sent a statement out to families of Croft students.
The school also released a public statement on Facebook that day, which noted that the administration was "actively exploring alternative options" for its expansion.
From that time, according to the lawsuit, Washington Associates did not receive any written or verbal communication from Given or anyone else at Croft for weeks.
On Feb. 24, Washington Associates sent a letter to Given saying that the school had defaulted on its lease by backing out of the agreement and not remaining in communication.
"We cannot express how profound our disappointment is with your and Croft's actions," Lubitz wrote in the letter.
Given sent an official lease termination letter back on March 2, saying the public announcement was not a termination and until then, Croft had still had the right to seek a sublease or other use of the property. He wrote that Croft had been told by city officials it had "virtually no chance of receiving the Conditional Use Permit" due to the community response.
"I received death threats ... Pushback so extreme that it necessitates the involvement of law enforcement is not typical of the Boston zoning process," Given wrote. "Croft was prepared for some negativity; we were not, however, prepared to shoulder threats to our physical safety — particularly where we are entrusted with the care and teaching of children."
The landlord responded the same day, saying that Croft did not have the authority to terminate the lease and it was therefore still in effect.
Foodie's Markets located at 1421 Washington St. in Boston's South End.Google Maps Street View
The truth comes out
As part of the agreement, Given had signed a personal guaranty form and provided what he said was a $500,000 letter of credit from Croft's bank, Leader Bank, as a security deposit. Because Washington Associates considered Croft in default, manager Leo Corcoran brought this letter to a Leader Bank branch in the Seaport on March 6, intending to cash it.
However, when he met with a bank representative, he was told that the letter did not match any in the bank's records and in fact, Washington Associates was not the beneficiary of any letter of credit at Leader Bank, according to the lawsuit. The bank employee told Corcoran that they would have to call the employee whose signature was on the letter and asked him to wait in the lobby while he did so.
A few minutes later, officers from the Boston Police Department arrived and began to question Corcoran about the letter, which the bank believed was fraudulent. He explained the situation and was allowed to leave.
That day, attorneys for the landlord sent a letter to Croft's attorneys seeking answers.
"We take this matter seriously and DEMAND a WRITTEN explanation," attorney Andrew Goloboy wrote.
Following the incident at Leader Bank, Given contacted the school's board of directors to inform them that "he had mismanaged and misrepresented the school's finances over the past several years," keeping a false set of financial records where "revenue was overstated, expenses were understated, and the full debt taken on by Mr. Given far exceeded what was disclosed," according to a letter sent to families on Tuesday. He also confirmed that he had fabricated the letter of credit.
The board of directors wrote in the letter that after suspending Given, they took steps to secure the school's finances. After paying employees with what little cash was left in Croft's accounts and securing a $400,000 "capital contribution" from an undisclosed source, the school was left with about $448,000, according to the letter.
Given had concealed about $13 million in debt borrowed "primarily from Croft families, investors, friends, and business acquaintances," and had himself borrowed about $2 million in short-term loans.
The board wrote that Croft needs at least $5 million to cover payroll and necessary operating expenses for the remainder of the school year. While the next payroll cycle is covered, the board is currently in talks with several potential funding sources.
"We also want to be clear that school is open," they wrote. "Your children's teachers and programs are in place, and the Board, alongside school management, are working diligently to ensure the day-to-day experience your child is accustomed to will not change."
The lawsuit from Washington Associates, which names both Given and Croft as defendants, claims that the situation has resulted in a significant loss for the company. Due to the community outcry, the city is considering re-zoning the property so that it can only be used as a grocery store, limiting potential uses for future tenants and tanking its market value.
Washington Associates manager Mark Epker wrote in an affidavit that according to his estimates, without the grocery limitation, the retail market value for the space would be $7.7 million. If it was re-zoned, he estimated that that number could drop by $4.3 million.
He added that the company will likely need to spend millions on improvements to the property to market it to new tenants, which would have otherwise been covered by Croft under the lease agreement, bringing the total estimated loss to more than $10 million.
Neither Given or his attorney responded to requests for comment and they had not filed any response to the lawsuit as of Thursday morning. His attorney told the Boston Globe he was cooperating with the school's investigation.
"Scott has never used any school funds for his own personal benefit. At all times, he has used school funds solely for appropriate school-related purposes," the attorney told the newspaper. "The well-being of the Croft School community has been and will remain one of Scott's top priorities in life."
In response to an inquiry from MassLive, Mahoney of the Croft School sent a copy of the letter sent to families on Tuesday but did not provide further comment on the situation.
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