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Anonymous ID: 2523ff April 27, 2021, 9:19 p.m. No.13529304   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9424 >>9473 >>9491 >>9521 >>9559 >>9592 >>9616 >>9640 >>9698 >>9722 >>9743 >>9835

Former Obama White House advisor Seth Andrew arrested, accused of stealing from charter school he founded

 

A former advisor in the Obama White House has been arrested on charges of scheming to steal $218,005 from a charter school network he founded, federal authorities said. Seth Andrew, who also worked in the Education Department, is due to appear in Manhattan federal court, where a complaint says he used funds from Democracy Prep Public Schools to get a favorable home mortgage interest rate. The husband of CBS News anchor Lana Zak is charged with wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements to a financial institution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

 

Seth Andrew, who served as an education advisor in the Obama White House, was arrested Tuesday morning on charges of scheming to steal $218,005 from a public charter school network that he founded, federal authorities said. Andrew, 42, was busted in New York City, where he and his wife, CBS News anchor Lana Zak, have a residence valued at more than $2 million. The founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools is accused of using more than half of the allegedly stolen money from that network to maintain a bank account minimum that gave him a more favorable interest rate for a mortgage on his and Zak’s Manhattan residence. Zak was not charged in the case.

 

Prosecutors said Andrew in 2019 — more than two years after severing ties with Democracy Prep — looted a series of escrow accounts he had previously set up for individual schools within Democracy Prep’s network, and then used their funds to open a business account in the name of one of the schools at a bank. A surveillance photo from a bank, which was included in a criminal complaint, show Andrew at that bank, where he was closing one of the schools’ escrow account there in October 2019. Andrew is seen in that photo wearing a yellow hat, which an FBI agent noted in the complaint “is essentially Andrew’s ‘calling card,’” as it signifies a connection to Democracy Prep “and his leadership of it.” Andrew is charged with wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements to a financial institution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case.

 

At an appearance in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, a judge ordered Andrew released today on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond, which will have three co-signers. As a condition of that bond, both Andrew and Zak must surrender their passports, and Andrew’s travel was restricted to New York City, several counties north of the city, Long Island, and Vermont. Andrew next is due in court on May 27. Zak, who has three children with Andrew, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/27/former-obama-white-house-advisor-seth-andrew-arrested-in-charter-school-theft.html

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-white-house-adviser-arrested-stealing-218000-charter-schools-he-founded

Anonymous ID: 2523ff April 27, 2021, 9:59 p.m. No.13529488   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>9491 >>9521 >>9559 >>9592 >>9616 >>9640 >>9698 >>9722 >>9743 >>9835

Judge Has Doubts on Voter Privacy in Arizona Recount

 

A judge hearing a challenge to voter privacy policies during the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s recount of 2.1 million 2020 election ballots says he is not convinced voter secrecy is being upheld.

 

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge hearing a challenge to voter privacy policies during the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate's recount of 2.1 million 2020 election ballots in the county that includes metro Phoenix said Tuesday he is not convinced voter secrecy is being upheld. The comment from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin came at the end of a lengthy hearing where he also declined to extend a previous judge's order that auditors hired by the Senate comply with state voter privacy laws – at least until he hears more at a hearing on Wednesday. “I will share with you all, I am not yet persuaded that there has been a showing that the rights of the voters in Maricopa County are being protected,” Martin said. “And I think we will touch on this tomorrow when we address the policies and procedures and whether or not they can be withheld from public view.”

 

The Arizona Democratic Party and the lone Democrat on the GOP-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors sued the state Senate and the contractor overseeing the election audit, Cyber Ninjas, Thursday. They want the recount of the 2020 presidential election won by President Joe Biden halted unless they get guarantees that voter privacy and ballot secrecy is ensured. A judge who has since stepped aside from the contentious case on Friday ordered the recount halted if Democrats posted a $1 million bond, which the party declined to do. He also ordered the Senate and private election auditors to follow state law on voter and ballot secrecy and for Cyber Ninjas to produce its recount policies and procedures in court. Cyber Ninjas is a Florida firm with no election experience run by Doug Logan, who has shared unfounded conspiracy theories claiming the official 2020 presidential election results are illegitimate. His attorney is seeking to have its policies and procedures for protecting voter privacy kept secret, arguing that they are trade secrets. Martin plans to take testimony onthe company's request to keep the material secret at a hearing Wednesday. He also said he plans to consider whether to again order the recount halted or renew the previous judge's orders on ballot secrecy rules.

 

He started Tuesday's hearing by rejecting the Senate lawyers' arguments that they are not required to follow state elections law outlining how voters' constitutional rights are protected. “The Arizona Senate has the constitutional authority to conduct the audit as part of its legislative function,” Martin said. “However, the manner in which that audit is conducted must be balanced against the constitutional rights of the voters in Maricopa County, including the rights to secrecy and confidentiality of information.” The recount is continuing at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the state fairgrounds. Dozens of workers on Friday began a hand count of all the Maricopa County ballots, with little transparency and the press barred from the site, unless they signed up as official observers and agreed to sit for six-hour shifts.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-04-27/judge-has-doubts-on-voter-privacy-in-arizona-recount