A former White House senior adviser, Seth Andrew, has been arrested on allegations of stealing $218,000 (N82 million) and making false statements to a bank.
Andrew, who served as a White House Senior adviser under the administration of former President Barrack Obama, was arrested at Manhattan, New York, US, over allegations of wire fraud, money laundering and false statement charges.
This was announced by the US Department of Justice on Tuesday.
The alleged theft was in connection with Democracy Prep, a charter school network that Andrew founded.
Democracy Prep operates 21 schools in New York and four other U.S. states, and has a total of 6,500 students.
This was contained in a press release by the US Attorney Audrey Strauss. According to her, Andrew, in 2019, allegedly stole $218,000 (N82m)“from the very same schools he helped create.”
Strauss further stated that the former senior advisers allegedly used the money to obtain a better interest rate on a mortgage for a $2.3 million Manhattan apartment.
According to the lawsuit filed at the Manhattan Federal Court, Andrew was a founder of Democracy Prep when it started in New York City in 2005. It later expanded across the United States, flourishing after its methods helped raise test scores for economically challenged children in Harlem.
However, Andrew left his role as a superintendent of the schools network in 2013 and began working in the United States Department of Education and as a senior adviser in the Office of Educational Technology at the White House until November 2016.
However, Andrew, through his lawyer, Timothy Doherty, pleaded not guilty, during a brief hearing in the Manhattan Federal Court. Andrew was then granted bail of $500,000(189m).
Andrew was charged with one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, one count of money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of making a false statement to a bank, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
