Former Obama White House assistant Seth Andrew sentenced for school theft

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Former Obama White House aide Seth Andrew sentenced for school theft

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Seth Andrew

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Former Obama White House education consultant Seth Andrew was sentenced Thursday to a year-and-one-day in federal jail for a plan to take $218,000 from a New York charter school network he established.

Andrew, 43, likewise was fined $5,000 at his sentencing in U.S. District Court inManhattan Prior to Thursday’s proceding, he had actually paid $218,005 in restitution to the network, Democracy Prep Public Schools, and $22,537 in loss, district attorneys stated.

He was detained in April 2021 on charges of wire scams, cash laundering and making incorrect declarations to a banks. He pleaded guilty in January to wire scams.

In sentencing Andrew to 366 days in jail, Judge John Cronan was in fact providing him a break.

If Cronan had actually sentenced Andrew to simply one day less, or a complete year, Andrew would have been needed to serve every day of that term.

But the somewhat longer sentence that he got makes Andrew eligible for so-called great time credit, suggesting he likely will just serve 85% of his sentence, or a bit more than 10 months.

“I wish every single day that I had not done this,” Andrew informed Cronan in a declaration he read out in court. “I feel a constant sense of remorse and shame. I do not blame the victim.”

“I hope that future students can learn from my mistakes and from my sincere accountability,” he stated. “This court can be certain nothing like this will ever happen again … I am profoundly sorry and ask for you forgiveness.”

Andrew, who is the other half of CBS News anchor Lana Zak, established Democracy Prep Public Schools in2005 Zak was never ever implicated of misdeed in connection with Andrew’s case.

Prosecutors stated that in 2019– more than 2 years after severing ties with Democracy Prep– he robbed cash from escrow accounts coming from private schools in the charter school network.

Andrew then utilized majority of those funds to keep a minimum balance in a savings account, which entitled him and Zak to a more beneficial rate of interest for a home loan on their Manhattan house, valued at more than $2 million, district attorneys had actually formerly stated.

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Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a declaration Thursday, stated, “Seth Andrew was sentenced today for stealing from those who once trusted him.”

“Andrew committed this crime to attempt to punish non-profit charter schools because they declined his offer to return as their leader,” Williams stated.

“Thankfully, the victim of Andrew’s crime was resilient, and its important work continues. Today’s sentence sends a message that those who engage in fraud schemes and steal from others will face appropriate consequences for their conduct.”

A representative for Andrew on Thursday in a declaration stated, “Seth never received a mortgage benefit from these funds and never transferred them into any personal account.”

The representative likewise stated Andrew was never ever inspired by greed, and challenged district attorneys’ arguments that he had actually moved the funds out of DPPS accounts to trigger the company any damage.

“His entire career belies their false assertion,” the representative stated.

“Seth transferred dissolution escrow funds that he had been told were in danger of being lost due to their dormant status. He moved these funds to another non-profit, a fact Seth never disputed,” the representative stated.

That other non-profit purchased a defunct college in Vermont with the objective of resuming it in a brand-new kind.

Democracy Prep, in its own declaration, stated “We are grateful this sad chapter is finally closed and thank the US Attorney and FBI for their hard work on the case.”

The CEO of Democracy Prep at the time of Andrew’s arrest in 2015 called his actions “a profound betrayal of all that we stand for,” and stated that a “series of financial safeguards” that were set up after she took control of her post in 2019 “led directly to the discovery of Seth’s unauthorized withdrawals.” The network then called authorities about his actions.

Andrew accepted a task in the U.S. Department of Education in 2013, after President Barack Obama started his 2nd term. He later on ended up being a senior consultant in the Office of Educational Technology at the WhiteHouse

Andrew continued being paid by Democracy Prep while serving in the Obama administration, however then severed ties with the network in January 2017.