Jeri Wright, the 48-year-old daughter of President Barack Obama’s mentor and former pastor Jeremiah Wright, is heading to jail.
Free on bail while awaiting sentencing for money laundering in connection to a government-funded jobs training program, a U.S. District Court Judge found “there was probable cause to believe Wright committed a separate theft while on bail, thereby violating terms of her supervised release.”
The new charges against Wright involve more sketchy bookkeeping. The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Prosecutors now say Wright was taking part in another scheme — this one involving ghost payrolling — even as she was standing trial.
Between Feb. 12, 2014, and May 28, 2014, Wright allegedly got 13 payments totaling $8,192 from a temporary staffing agency “for work she never performed” for a plastics factory in Franklin, Indiana, according to a court filing this month. U.S. Probation Officer Eric W. Fox wrote that Wright “committed theft” by accepting the payments, which allegedly were authorized by a since-fired plant manager who is under investigation for “making fraudulent credit card charges and hiring several” ghost payrollers.
Through her attorney, Wright denied the new charges.
Wright faces a March 20 sentencing for her original conviction for making false statements to investigators and before a grand jury, as well as pocketing $11,000 as part of the fraud scheme.