KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former director of advancement for the University of Tennessee Foundation faces a 14-month federal prison sentence after admitting to two counts of wire fraud for pocketing donations meant to help the UT College of Law.
Andrew Shafer was sentenced Feb. 9 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville by Judge Katherine A. Crytzer. He pleaded guilty in August.
As part of the plea agreement he has to pay $70,000 in restitution to the UT Foundation.
Crytzer is recommending he go to a federal penal center in Kentucky. She's also recommending he get substance abuse treatment while in prison.
Shafer already had served seven months as a local jail inmate leading up to his sentencing, federal documents show.
Shaker had extensive career experience in fundraising including at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, also known as the Paulists, in New York, records show.
He got a job in Knoxville as senior director of advancement within the UT Foundation for the UT College of Law, according to his sentencing memo. He was authorized to receive alumni donations on behalf of the College of Law and to liaise with donors.
In September 2021, according to a federal sentencing memo, he received a $50,000 donor check. He put it in his own bank account.
In November 2021, he got another donor check for $20,000 that he also deposited into his bank account.
"Shafer used a portion of the stolen $70,000 as part of the down payment for a new residence in Knoxville," according to the government's sentencing memo.
Officials discovered the theft in 2022.
The alumni donors contacted the UT Foundation.
"The donors sought receipts from their donations for tax purposes," records state. "Shafer responded by email and provided phony 2021 giving summaries that he had concocted. Both summaries bore a perfect resemblance to actual UT Foundation donation receipts."
The sentencing memo prepared by his defense team said he ran into money problems when he and his family moved to Knoxville in about 2019. He also suffers from Type 1 diabetes that requires regular attention, his team's memo states.
Shafer was on pre-trial release for a time last year after being indicted, records show. But he was ordered to jail before trial after authorities said he tried to acquire Tramadol, an opioid.
At sentencing this month the government filed information indicating Shafer was a regular user of Tramadol, including after his arrest in March 2023.
It also submitted documents showing he took some $62,000 through PayPal transfers and unauthorized Schwab and CitiBank transactions from the Paulist Fathers in Manhattan. He worked for them as chief advancement officer from 2016-19, records submitted in his case state.
A New York "proof of loss" statement on behalf of the Paulist Fathers states he left the organization by "resignation caused by the discovery of dishonesty."
Shafer paid back about $20,000 of what he took in New York but then stopped corresponding with an attorney representing a trust that was trying to get back the Paulist Fathers' money, records state.
