The daughter of President Obama’s controversial former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright was taken into custody on Monday after allegedly violating the terms of her bail.
U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough decided there was probable cause to believe Jeri L. Wright, 49, participated in a separate scheme while on bail for a money laundering conviction, thereby violating the terms of her supervised release, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Last March Wright was found guilty of money laundering, lying to federal investigators and lying to a grand jury over her role in a state grant fraud scheme. Prosecutors now allege she separately took part in a ghost payrolling scheme at a private company in Indiana as she was standing trial, the Sun-Times reported.
“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,” the Sun-Times reported.
“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,” the report said.
Wright’s defense team has denied the new charges.
Still, the judge ordered she be detained and moved her sentencing in the grant-fraud case up to March 20. It had previously been set for April 3.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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