CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has issued an order releasing Giselle Butalid and her mother, Clarissa Adlawan, from U.S. Marshals custody on a $10,000 bond.
Judge Manglona ordered the defendants to pay a bond of $10,000 each. “$1,000 is to be paid immediately and the remaining $9,000 within 30 days from the release date,” the judge added.
According to the court, Butalid and Adlawan will be released once certain conditions have been met. Once released, the defendants must abide by the imposed release terms and conditions, including electronic location monitoring.
Recently, Butalid and Adlawan pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy, theft of federal funds, money laundering, and structuring financial transactions, during their initial appearance and arraignment in federal court.
Both defendants appeared in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and waived the formal reading of the indictment through their court-appointed attorneys. Judge Manglona accepted their pleas and scheduled a jury trial for Oct. 21 at 10 a.m.
According to the indictment, Butalid, formerly employed with the Public School System’s Office of Curriculum and Instruction, and her mother, Adlawan, used their company, One Legacy LLC, to defraud PSS of tens of thousands of dollars in federal grant funds.
Registered in January 2021, the company allegedly funneled federal money through falsified procurement documents. The indictment states that Butalid abused her position at PSS to forge documents, create fake vendor quotations, and authorize sole-source procurements for One Legacy, which then received payments for educational materials that were never delivered or were falsely represented.
The indictment further alleges that the defendants laundered proceeds through cash withdrawals, ATM transactions in the Philippines, and luxury purchases, such as stays at high-end hotels and shopping sprees at Prada and Louis Vuitton.
Butalid is charged with one count of conspiracy, five counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.
Adlawan is charged with one count of conspiracy, five counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of illegal monetary transaction, and four counts of structuring.
Prosecutors are also seeking forfeiture of assets linked to the alleged crimes, or substitute property if the original assets cannot be recovered.
