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Obama adviser pleads guilty to stealing $200,000+
A former White House official was accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars
to secure a loan on a multi-million-dollar apartment
Seth Andrew, a former adviser to 44th President Barack Obama, has pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges after stealing $218,000 from a charter school he founded.
The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that Andrew had pleaded guilty to transferring the money from the school to his own private bank accounts, which were being used to acquire a mortgage for a multi-million-dollar New York apartment.
Andrew could face up to 20 years in prison for the crime and is set to be sentenced on April 14. The former White House education adviser has agreed “to pay restitution to the Charter School Network from which he stole,” according to the DOJ.
“Seth Andrew, a former White House adviser, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create,” said US Attorney Damian Williams in a statement. “Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.”
Andrew – who served as an education adviser to the Obama White House between 2014 and 2016 – was arrested in April 2021 and charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements.
At the time, FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. accused Andrew of stealing the school’s money to get “the lowest interest rate” while applying for the Manhattan apartment loan.
“When you don’t have the necessary funds to put down, and you steal the money from your former employer to make up the difference, saving money in interest is likely to be the least of your concerns,” said Sweeney, who added, “We allege today that Andrew did just that, and since the employer he stole from was a charter school organization, the money he took belonged to an institution serving school-aged children.”
Disgraced lobbyist reportedly pleads guilty
in 2016 election meddling case
George Nader funneled millions of UAE money to “Our Sister” Hillary Clinton
on March 18, 1999. ©Ron Sachs / CNP / AdMedia via Global Look Press
An adviser to the government of the United Arab Emirates has admitted guilt in illegal donations of millions of dollars to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, The Intercept has learned.
Several months ago, George Nader agreed to plead guilty on one count of defrauding the US government through concealing the foreign origins of political contributions, the outlet reported, citing a sentencing memo penned by prosecutors. The document was unsealed in December 2021, but was not previously reported, the outlet said.
According to the allegations, Nader and his co-conspirator, Ahmad Khawaja, a California businessman, obfuscated the source of nearly $5 million. Transfers from Nader’s UAE-based firm to Khawaja’s US-based payment-processing company were presented to be regular payments.
Of that amount, more than $3.5 million came from the UAE government and were donated to Democratic PACs supporting Clinton’s candidacy, the allegations said. It remains unclear what happened to the rest of the money. However, the memo states that the two defendants sought inroads to “key figures” in the Donald Trump campaign, and that Khawaja donated $1 million to the Republican candidate’s inaugural committee.
Eight people have been indicted in the case, with five of them, including Nader, pleading guilty, The Intercept said. Khawaja fled the US after being indicted and is reportedly being held in custody in Lithuania. Both primary defendants are American citizens of Lebanese origin.
The accusations were previously detailed by the New York Times. Clinton was referred to as “Our Sister” or “the Big Lady” in communications between Nader and his UAE client, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. The businessman was a trusted emissary of the UAE royalty and provided regular updates on his progress in establishing connections with the Democratic candidate’s staff. The UAE government refrained from commenting on the allegations to either publication.
Nader was previously investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller for his effort targeting the Trump campaign and presidency. Mueller’s team questioned him about a meeting he helped organize between Erik Prince, an American private security entrepreneur and founder of the infamous company Blackwater, and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
The January 2017 Seychelles encounter was hyped by US media as evidence of Trump-Russia collusion, but Mueller’s final report described it as pretty much inconsequential and of little interest to the people in Trump’s orbit.
Nader was arrested by US federal agents in June 2019, after he got off a flight from the UAE, for possession of child pornography and images of bestiality, which were reportedly discovered by the Mueller team. It was the latest of several charges of the same nature he faced in the US.
The businessman was later indicted, with more counts of possession of child pornography and the sex trafficking of a 14-year-old boy from the Czech Republic, which happened in 2000. He pleaded guilty to both felonies and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nader spent a year in a Czech prison for having sex with the same minor, who he flew to the US.
Prosecutors in the campaign finance violation case are asking for a five-year sentence for the businessman, who is now 62 years old, to be served after his current prison term.
It seems like Mueller found a lot more dirt on Clinton than he ever did on Trump!
Are there charges pending against the Democratic PAC for receiving money from UAE?
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Nearly 50 steel execs jailed over emissions
Beijing has punished nearly 50 executives of steel-producing companies
for faking pollution data
© Kevin Frayer
Authorities in China have punished supervisors from four companies located in the top steelmaking city of Tangshan, the local government announced on Thursday, citing court documents.
Some 47 senior officials working for the companies have been given prison sentences ranging from six to 18 months after they were found guilty of tampering with monitoring devices controlling emissions.
The interference allowed the companies to release large quantities of pollutants back in March 2021, according to the Tangshan municipal government’s statement. Two of the companies caught circumventing the emissions restrictions, Tangshan Songting and Hebei Xinda, were also fined four million yuan to seven million yuan ($628,000 to $1.1 million).
The sentences and heavy fines come amid Beijing’s campaign to make its economy more eco-friendly and achieve carbon goals outlined by the central government. Steel producers appear to be among the prime offenders, repeatedly caught flouting the emissions caps.
Last year, four Tangshan steel making companies were caught failing to comply with production cuts introduced to limit heavy pollution. One of the offending companies, Tangshan Jinma Steel Group, was also involved in the latest scandal.
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