The LLC — How Purpose Group Extracts 72.67% of a School
The LLC
This is the simplest story in the investigation.
It has three characters: a school, an LLC, and a man.
Character 1: The School
Purpose Charter Academy. 362 students. Detroit. Authorized by DPSCD and CMU. Funded by Title I, US Department of Education, state per-pupil funding, and the Walton Family Foundation.
Total revenue: approximately $3.15 million per year.
The students are 99.2% Black. Math proficiency is 3%.
Character 2: The LLC
Purpose Group, LLC. LARA Entity. Single-member LLC.
It provides “management services” to Purpose Charter Academy.
It also provides “management services” to MacDowell Preparatory Academy — the second school.
The management fee is 72.67% of total revenue.
That’s not a typo. Seventy-two point six seven percent.
For context: typical charter school management fees range from 10-15%. National Heritage Academies, Michigan’s largest operator, charges roughly 12%.
Purpose Group charges six times the industry standard.
Character 3: The Man
Brian Roderick Banks. The single member of Purpose Group LLC.
- 9 criminal convictions
- Classified as non-self (0.926 confidence)
- 134 edges in the investigation graph
- Governance of 14+ shell entities
- Claims a JD from MSU College of Law (MSU has no record)
- Impersonated a child (Dasean Mitchell)
He owns the LLC. The LLC gets 72.67%. Therefore he gets 72.67%.
Of every tax dollar that follows a child to Purpose Charter Academy, seventy-two cents ends up in the pocket of a man with 9 criminal convictions.
The Second School
It’s the same structure, twice.
MacDowell Preparatory Academy. Also authorized. Also funded. Also pays Purpose Group LLC for “management services.”
The graph edges:
purpose_group → banks[money_flow]purpose_group → banks[ownership]pca → purpose_group[money_flow]macdowell → purpose_group[money_flow, financial]macdowell → banks[money_flow]
Two schools. One LLC. One man. One pocket.
Who Sees the Money
| Entity | What They See | What They Did |
|---|---|---|
| Plante Moran | Audited PCA. Generated financial data. | Non-response. |
| CMU | Authorized both schools. Receives a cut. | No revocation. |
| MDE | Oversees all charter schools in Michigan. | Failed to stop. |
| DPSCD | Authorized PCA within district. | Failed to stop. |
| IRS (EO) | Purpose Foundation is a 501(c)(3). | Jurisdiction noted. |
Every entity in the oversight chain can see the 72.67%.
It’s not hidden. It’s in the audits. It’s in the 990s. It’s in the management contract.
They all see it. None of them stop it.
The Graph
Purpose Group LLC: non-self, 0.84 confidence.
The graph assigned it non-self using 7 edges:
pca → purpose_group[money_flow]pca → purpose_group[property]banks → purpose_group[money_flow]banks → purpose_group[ownership]macdowell → purpose_group[financial]macdowell → purpose_group[money_flow]mde → purpose_group[structural_proximity]
Seven edges. All money flowing in one direction. From children to an LLC to a man with 9 convictions.
The membrane doesn’t need 36 methods for this one.
Sourced to LARA filings, MDE data, IRS 990, court records, and the investigation graph. Back to Analysis → · Three Percent → · They Banked on Banks →