Former Obama White House aide Seth Andrew sentenced to 12 months in jail for constitution faculty theft scheme

Former Obama White House schooling advisor Seth Andrew was sentenced Thursday to a year-and-one-day in federal jail for a scheme to steal $218,000 from a New York constitution faculty community he based.

Andrew, 43, additionally was fined $5,000 at his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

He was arrested in April 2021 on fees of wire fraud, cash laundering and making false statements to a monetary establishment. He pleaded responsible in January to wire fraud.

In sentencing Andrew to three hundred and sixty six days in jail, Judge John Cronan was truly giving him a break.

If Cronan had sentenced Andrew to simply at some point much less, or a full 12 months, Andrew would have been required to serve daily of that time period.

But the marginally longer sentence that he obtained makes Andrew eligible for so-called good time credit score, that means he seemingly will solely serve 85% of his sentence, or a bit of greater than 10 months.

Andrew, who’s the husband of CBS News anchor Lana Zak, based Democracy Prep Public Schools in 2005.

Prosecutors stated that in 2019 — greater than two years after severing ties with Democracy Prep — he looted cash from escrow accounts belonging to particular person colleges within the constitution faculty community.

Andrew then used greater than half of these funds to take care of a minimal stability at a checking account, which gave him a extra favorable rate of interest for a mortgage on his and Zak’s residence in Manhattan, valued at greater than $2 million.

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

“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.” 

Democracy Prep, in its personal assertion, 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 on the time of Andrew’s arrest final 12 months stated {that a} “series of financial safeguards” that had been instituted after she took over her put up in 2019 “led directly to the discovery of Seth’s unauthorized withdrawals.” The community then contacted authorities about his actions.

Andrew accepted a job within the U.S. Department of Education in 2013, after President Barack Obama started his second time period. He later grew to become a senior advisor within the Office of Educational Technology on the White House. 

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