According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the former senior advisor allegedly stole $200,000 from a charter school network he founded and tried to launder the money to get a lower interest rate on a Manhattan apartment mortgage. Andrew was arrested and charged on Tuesday with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank. Andrew founded Democracy Prep Public Schools in 2005 which is a system of more than 20 New York City-Based public charter schools. In 2013 Andrew left the network to work for the Department of Education and eventually the White House where he stayed until 2016.
In a criminal complaint, prosecutors allege that between March and August of 2019, Andrew used former connections to the charter system to steal $218,005 from the network’s reserve money. Andrew gave his school email to a bank employee to convince the employee that he was still associated with Democracy Prep. Prosecutors say that the alleged fraud, money laundering, and “misrepresentations” were all an attempt to obtain savings on a mortgage for a multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment. The combined charges against Andrew carry a maximum 70 years in prison. (20 years for wire fraud, 20 years for money laundering, and 30 years for making false statements to a bank).
