A former Obama White House adviser has been arrested and charged by the FBI with stealing $218,005 from charter schools he helped found.
Seth Andrew, 42, served under former President Barack Obama as a senior adviser in the Office of Educational Technology.
He was arrested on charges of wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a financial institution. Federal prosecutors said that he used more than half of the allegedly stolen money to maintain his bank account above a threshold that enabled him to get better interest rates for a mortgage of his multimillion Manhattan apartment.
“As alleged, Seth Andrew abused his position as a founder of a charter school network to steal from the very same schools he helped create,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said.
“Andrew is not only alleged to have stolen the schools’ money but also to have used the stolen funds to obtain a savings on a mortgage for a multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment. Thanks to the FBI’s diligent work, Andrew now faces federal charges for his alleged scheme,” she added.
Andrew will enter a plea of not guilty in a Manhattan Federal Court, attorney Michael Yaeger told The Epoch Times via email.
“Seth will enter a plea of not guilty, we’re reviewing the papers that were just unsealed this morning,” Yaeger said.
