Former White House adviser Seth Andrew was sentenced to a year in federal prison for his role in a scheme to defraud a charter school network that he founded of more than $218,000, a news release said.
“Seth Andrew was sentenced today for stealing from those who once trusted him," U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement. "Andrew committed this crime to attempt to punish nonprofit charter schools because they declined his offer to return as their leader."
According to the release, Andrew was a founding member of Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of public charter schools based in New York City. He left DPPS in the spring of 2013 to work for the U.S. Department of Education, eventually becoming a senior adviser in the White House Office of Educational Technology.
He resigned from the White House in November 2016 and officially ended his relationship with DPPS in January 2017.
In a 2019 email to several DDPS members, Andrew offered to return to DPPS as president in exchange for $25,000 a month, plus a potential $250,000 bonus. He said, "every single day that goes by, this situation becomes exponentially more difficult and the ability to pull out of a nosedive becomes harder. So after 24 hours, my monthly salary expectation will go up every day that we’re not under a signed contract.”
After DPPS declined his offer, Andrew began withdrawing funds from the network's accounts.
“Thankfully, the victim of Andrew’s crime was resilient, and its important work continues," Williams said. "Today’s sentence sends a message that those who engage in fraud schemes and steal from others will face appropriate consequences for their conduct.”
