A plot to embezzle $218,000 from a New York charter school network that Former Obama White House Aide Seth Andrew created landed him a year and a day in federal prison on Thursday.

On the day of his sentencing in Manhattan’s US District Court, Andrew was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.

According to prosecutors, he had already paid Democracy Prep Public Schools $218,005 in restitution and forfeiture before Thursday’s hearing.

The charges against him include wire fraud, money laundering, and making false claims to a financial institution, all of which were brought against him in April 2021.

He pleaded guilty to wire fraud in January. John Cronan, the judge who sentenced Andrew to 366 days in prison, granted him a lenient sentence.

In an attempt to penalize non-profit charter schools for rejecting his invitation to return as their leader, Andrew committed this crime,” Williams stated.

Seth never received a mortgage benefit from these monies and never put them into any personal account,” a spokeswoman for Andrew said in a statement on Thursday.

Seth transferred funds from the dissolution escrow account that were at risk of being misplaced since they were dormant. “Seth never contested that he transferred these cash

A tragic betrayal of all that we stand for,” the CEO of Democracy Prep said when Andrew was arrested last year. She also said that after she took up her role in 2019

While serving in the Obama administration, Andrew still received a salary from Democracy Prep, but he cut all links with the network in January 2017.