Former Obama education adviser Seth Andrew arrested

A former education adviser to the Obama administration was arrested Tuesday for allegedly swiping more than $200,000 from a charter school network he founded, federal authorities said.

Seth Andrew, 42, who founded Democracy Prep in 2005, embezzled the $218,005 to secure a lower interest rate on a multimillion-dollar Manhattan apartment in 2019, prosecutors alleged in a complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday.

Andrew, who had split from the charter school network years prior, withdrew funds from escrow accounts linked to the network and put them in a bank account controlled by him, according to the complaint.

He used the funds to secure a lower interest rate for the apartment, which he and his spouse bought in Manhattan for more than $2 million, according to prosecutors.

Andrew was arrested Tuesday and slapped with a three-count complaint, charging him with wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements to a bank.

He was released on $500,000 bond at an initial court appearance in Manhattan federal court Tuesday afternoon, but did not enter a plea at the hearing.

Andrew served in the Obama White House in the Office of Educational Technology after taking a job at the start of President Barack Obama’s second term in 2013.

The Democracy Prep network that he founded includes several schools in Harlem.