LOS ANGELES – A Filipino American mother and her daughter were sentenced this week to prison in the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands in a procurement fraud and money laundering scheme targeting the public school system.
Giselle Butalid, 34, worked for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) public school system and had access to its procurement process, according to court documents.
“She used that position to betray the trust of those responsible for educating the CNMI’s children, depriving those children of desperately needed resources while enriching herself and her mother,” FBI Honolulu said in a statement.
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‘Ghost’ purchases
Butalid and her 55-year-old mother Clarissa Adlawan used their company, One Legacy LLC, to sell educational material while concealing a conflict of interest from the public school system (PSS), the FBI said.
Investigators from the FBI and other agencies discovered that Butalid forged documents to cover up “ghost” purchases.
“The defendants simply pocketed payments for materials that PSS never ordered,” the FBI said.
The defendants frequently traveled to the Philippines, staying in luxury hotels, withdrawing large amounts of cash and building a house using the stolen funds, according to the FBI.
Adlawan was sentenced to 48 months in prison while Butalid will serve 18 months. In addition, both mother and daughter were ordered to serve three years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service.
Properties in the Philippines
They were also ordered to pay $548,788 in restitution and forfeit two properties they owned in the Philippines.
“While the prosecution acknowledged the defendants’ early acceptance of responsibility and expressions of remorse, it argued that Adlawan had not disclosed details regarding a house constructed in the Philippines using stolen funds,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. “Consequently, the court declined to lessen her sentence for taking responsibility.”
‘Dream house of a fraudster’
“Cases like this one clearly demonstrate the destructiveness of greed: Funds that would have otherwise been used for the benefit of our communities’ children instead went to finance the dream house of a fraudster,” said Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Seattle Field Office.
FBI Honolulu Special Agent in Charge David Porter said the defendants’ actions “represent a profound betrayal of the students, teachers, and community who relied on them for honest public service.”
Shawn N. Anderson, US attorney for the districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands announced the sentencing by Judge Ramona V. Manglona Thursday.
