First phantom jets, now a phantom hiring process: how Maine’s largest school district burned taxpayers’ money on outside counsel to stall an easily satisfiable FOAA request on Dylan Rottkov
When pressed to show how it vetted a football coach linked to alleged West Coast fraud ventures and nonexistent private jets, Maine’s Portland Public Schools produced two blank interview forms alongside copies of this outlet’s own media inquiries, our complaints to Maine’s Ombudsman and invoked blanket secrecy ––all after weeks of “legal review” by the high-caliber lawyers they brought in. Their dodgy maneuvers, however, do not save them from the core problem: head coach Dylan Rottkov is mentoring minors despite his documented corporate ties to Marc Lubaszka, currently facing multiple felony counts. Some charges carry up to 20 years behind bars. Rottkov has not been charged.
NOTA EDITORIAL: Esta serie de investigación, publicada originalmente en inglés ("A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime") y galardonada con un premio del LA Press Club en 2022, fue producida por Aitana Vargas para Investor News entre 2021 y 2026 (y continúa). La serie completa fue publicada después de que la justicia de Los Ángeles desestimara intentos judiciales por parte de una de las presuntas implicadas, Hadari Oshri, de prohibir su publicación mediante una fallida querella mordaza (SLAPP, en inglés). Este trabajo está protegido por la Ley de Protección de Periodistas de California (Cal. Const. Art. I, § 2(b); California Evidence Code § 1070). La Cronista no renuncia a ningún privilegio o derecho al proceder a su difusión.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: On June 22, 2021, Hadari Oshri –Marc Lubaszka’s business partner– filed a frivolous civil harassment restraining order (CHRO) against me to stop the publication of my investigative series “A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime,” and any subsequent installments or future media coverage. On August 3, 2021, I filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike Oshri’s CHRO petition. In a hearing held on September 13, 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Doreen Boxer granted my anti-SLAPP motion and denied Oshri’s civil harassment petition for failure to sustain the applicable burden of proof. CA's powerful anti-SLAPP statute mandates that the losing party, in this case Oshri, pay the prevailing party's attorney’s fees. She also declined to go on a recorded interview or provide statements via email. This multi-part series is available in Investor News and La Cronista.
By Aitana Vargas
Two blank interview PDFs.
After weeks of “legal review,” that was the hollow, obstructive response by Portland Public Schools to La Cronista and Investor News’s FOAA request placed in August 2026 regarding Portland High’s vetting and hiring of Dylan Rottkov as head football coach earlier this year.
Rottkov, also known for his moniker Dylan Raw in his rapper years, served in 2021 as the VP of Fly Private X, a phantom private jet company registered in Delaware by Marc Lubaszka, who is currently facing theft, money laundering and tampering with public records felony charges in a 2026 financial case in Montana. Some of those charges carry up to 20 years behind bars.
The jet company was also leveraged by Israeli entrepreneur Hadari Oshri in alleged attempts to sell over $370M in nonexistent COVID-19 PPE to convicted felon Arael Doolittle (sentenced in 2022) and Alaa Hattab, who is awaiting sentencing. As Investor News reported in 2021, Rottkov was also listed as principal of Montana-registered Buy Gold Brightly, another company tied to Lubaszka. La Cronista and Investor News have learned that Lubaszka's ventures and business history are currently under scrutiny. Neither he, nor Oshri nor Rottkov has been charged in connection with Fly Private X or Buy Gold Brightly specifically.
Marc Lubaszka has been charged with multiple felonies and faces up to 20 years behind bars. Screenshots from his website.
Alongside the two blank PDF documents (here & here), Public Portland Schools superintendent Ryan Scallon and his school district orchestrated —under pressure from Maine’s Ombudsman— an October 2nd records production consisting almost entirely of recycled material: copies of email media requests sent by La Cronista and Investor News, a long-delayed boilerplate response to earlier unanswered media inquiries in August 2026 and the outlets' own complaints to the ombudsman. As if we were unaware of what we filed —a gesture greatly appreciated, nonetheless.
After such media requests for comments went initially unanswered, the district’s communications representative, Tess Nacelewicz, finally acknowledged on August 26, 2026, that reading the articles was "the first time" officials had learned about the issues raised by Investor News’s award-winning, multi-year investigative series on their head football coach —a carefully phrased admission that avoided repeating the reported allegations, even as the outlet’s alleged corporate fraud findings are now referenced in Lubaszka’s Montana criminal case, whose list of witnesses includes FBI representatives.
Their memorable boilerplate response was approved by Sarah Warren, Portland Public Schools Chief of Strategy and Operations. And off they went, because that is the extent of their record production —a total mockery of the spirit of FOAA, particularly from a school district that prides itself on championing progressive values, restorative justice, transparency and accountability.
PORTLAND HIGH & SUPERINTENDENT SCALLON'S COMPLIANCE THEATER
The produced emails under the August 2026 FOAA request also confirm the district had a genius idea: to bring in the big legal guns in Maine’s school landscape: Drummond Woodsum’s Melissa Hewey. And who pays for this?
Taxpayers.
Since our first media request until now, we have been met with silence, weeks of stalling, a gagged school board, one boilerplate response carefully curated by highly regarded counsel Hewey and now two unpopulated PDFs that exemplify how public agencies use compliance theater to avoid scrutiny or create a dense layer of confusion in the face of serious allegations surrounding, in this case, Portland High's marquee head football coach appointment earlier this year. The exact amount paid to craft such an exquisite boilerplate response to media inquiries, produce empty interview documents and withhold internal communications and other records is now the subject of separate FOAA audits. Meanwhile, parents, students and community alike are left wondering how Rottkov was recruited and whether other candidates were ever considered, interviewed and qualified for the job.
“We have no records responsive to request No 5,” HR Director Jennifer Slabbinck wrote on behalf of the district in their October 2nd FOAA response. This request specifically asked for the production of any formal or informal complaints, grievances, inquiries or notices of lawsuits or legal claims concerning Rottkov, his past business dealings or his conduct in any coaching or staff capacity.
Resorting to a revealing word choice, Slabbinck added that they were not turning over applications, background checks, vetting notes, communications or completed interview scorecards because they “might fall within” Maine’s personnel confidentiality statute 20-A M.R.S. § 6101.
Might?
Meaning, big-shot attorneys are guessing? They don’t know? Under Maine’s FOAA law, an agency cannot invoke a personnel confidentiality exemption to obscure whether records exist or not —meaning if the district truly has no vetting or evaluation records, it was obligated to confirm that no responsive records exist, just as it did for Request No. 5, rather than hide behind vague privacy claims.
The district’s calculated months-long stalling and pushback against transparency has also resulted in three complaints from La Cronista and Investor News to Maine’s Ombudsman.
All these FOAA theatrics handled by elite counsel are unfolding as the district’s superintendent is facing increased scrutiny over his proposed budget, overspending, hiring freezes and personnel cuts.
SUPERINTENDENT SCALLON: A TAXPAYERS' MONEY WASTING MACHINE &
THE TWO-WAY PROGRESSIVE PLAYBOOK?
La Cronista and Investor News reached out to Portland Education Association (PEA) President Kerrie Dowdy —who has led a vocal public campaign questioning Scallon’s financial and budget priorities— seeking comment on the district’s hiring oversight and outside legal expenditures.
“Can I ask you why you are pursuing this story specifically?” she asked, despite a clearly laid out initial media inquiry. Dowdy did not provide additional comments by publication date.
That reluctance to weigh in on administrative oversight stands in sharp contrast to the union’s recent willingness to publicly lock arms with Scallon’s leadership. Efforts to obtain comments from incoming school board members Lucía Rico, Alexandra Reissman and Richard Leone as well as outgoing members Usira Ali, Sarah Brydon and Fatuma Noor were met with no response by publication date. All remaining members also stayed silent, except one.
“Just to explain my personal silence, it is the policy of the district that only the board chair may speak for the board,” Jayne Sawtelle said in an email. However, the media inquiry specifically requested that each member speak individually regarding their personal oversight of district expenditures and vetting procedures.
In February 2025, Scallon was featured in a story by The Maine Wire, which announced that Portland Public Schools would be working with the Portland Education Association (PEA) and the district’s teachers union on a task-force to create safe progressive student discipline policy. At the time, he said part of an educator’s work is understanding that “students are growing and learning with us.”
Other local media outlets also covered the story. According to Maine's WGME CBS News 13, the initiative was only formed after the district huddled to protect a middle school athletic director caught on camera punching a student. By November 2025, that performance of equity had already unraveled further; The Maine Wire reported that Scallon was hit with formal community petitions, accusations of retaliation against educators of color and planned student walkouts over an administrative restructuring that critics stated lacked basic accountability.
How Portland High and the district, under Scallon’s leadership, have handled the Rottkov transparency and vetting issue for months raises concerning questions about his legacy and the measurable impact he is having on students and their families, many of whom —per the district's own press releases— are economically disadvantaged and come from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Scallon can speak progressive, but apparently, he cannot execute it.
If it is true that the blank PDFs are all the district has, then Portland High’s hiring practices were as phantom as Lubaszka’s private jets —just an empty folder to justify Rottkov’s appointment as head football coach. If the PDFs were, indeed, populated, Scallon and his team face further scrutiny by the public they purport to serve. And neither option is a win for the district. As of right now, it has blatantly failed public interest.
As expected, ahead of publication, Scallon, Slabbinck, and Nacelewicz all declined to answer a detailed request for comment —with Nacelewicz instead recycling their aged, nearly three-month-old boilerplate statement from August 2026 while falsely claiming she believed this outlet had yet to publish it. In doing so, the district dodged every question about their hollow October records production, even as Nacelewicz confirmed that Drummond Woodsum’s FOAA work was handled under the district's taxpayer-funded retainer. Scallon and Slabbinck were copied in those emails.
*After this reporter survived in 2021 an anti–SLAPP motion against Ms. Oshri, as a matter of policy, this outlet no longer reaches out to Ms. Oshri, her then-attorney, John Tamborelli, Mr. Lubaszka, Mr. Rottkov and Mr. Seller for comment. But we remain fully committed to hearing and sharing their opinion should they decide to reach out to us by email: Aitana_investigations@protonmail.com
For news tips and story ideas, please contact investigative reporter Aitana Vargas at aitana_investigations@protonmail.com.
A Special Report: The Harrowing Impunity of White-Collar Crime is an award-winning investigative series by Aitana Vargas published in InvestorNews.io and now available in LaCronista.com. The series exposes Hadari Oshri's, Marc Lubaszka's, former rapper Dylan Rottkov's (formerly known as Dylan Raw) and Patrick Seller's participation in alleged PPE and gold schemes through various corporations, including Fly Private X, Buy Gold Brightly, Trade Safe Pro and A1A Management.
Industry recognition: Initial work in this series was recognized with an LA Press Club award in 2022. In 2023, the series was selected as a finalist for Floodlight, an initiative by Fundación Gabo and the Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project.
Explore the entire series here.
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