Chavis resigned all ties at the school system in January 2012 and returned to North Carolina, where he had been resident again for some time. After the results of an "extraordinary audit" by the California financial management system were released later in 2012, Chavis was criticized for allegedly receiving more than $3.8 million in school funds for directing school payments to his and his wife's business without authorized contracts, from 2006 to 2010. In addition, the board of the charter school system was criticized for lax accounting and financial mismanagement.Ben Boychuk "Ben Chavis’s Last Stand", City Journal, Summer 2013 Following the results of the audit and other investigations of Chavis related to treatment of students and faculty, in February 2013, OUSD revoked the school's charter."Oakland's American Indian Model Schools seek new charter", Oakland Tribune After Chavis' resignation, the school appealed the revocation and struggled for the next year to keep its charter. It gained a preliminary injunction from the Superior Court of Alameda County allowing it to continue to operate the three system schools. AIMS has since received a 5-year renewal of the charter. During the next years, the charter school system paid Chavis an additional $8.6 million to lease buildings which he owned in Oakland, because it was unable to find other spaces for its operations.Bay Area News Group, "High drama as Oakland charter school cuts ties with unsavory past", East Bay Times, 24 May 2015; accessed 05 May 2017
