By Bryan Manabat
bryan@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
GISELLE Butalid, a former employee of the CNMI Public School System, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to theft and money laundering conspiracy, as charged in Counts 1 and 7 of a federal indictment.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI accepted Butalid’s guilty plea, finding her competent and that the plea was made knowingly and voluntarily. The jury trial previously scheduled for Jan. 16, 2026, has been vacated. Sentencing is set for March 6, 2026, at 9 a.m.
Butalid is represented by attorney Joey San Nicolas, while assistant U.S. attorney Eric O’Malley appeared for the federal government.
According to the amended plea agreement, Butalid was employed by PSS from October 2021 to August 2022. During that time, PSS received more than $10,000 in federal grants, qualifying it as a government agency under federal law. Butalid, acting as an agent of the government, conspired with her mother, Clarissa Adlawan, to defraud PSS through their company, One Legacy LLC.
The scheme involved falsified procurement documents for educational materials, resulting in fraudulent payments from PSS to One Legacy. Specific transactions included:
$23,242.50 in October 2021
$24,025.50 in December 2021
$50,000 in April 2022
$52,500 in June 2022
$113,020 in July 2022
The total amount embezzled exceeded $262,000.
From November 2021 to December 2022, Butalid and Adlawan laundered the proceeds through financial transactions designed to conceal the origin and avoid reporting requirements, the indictment stated. Funds were also transferred from the United States to the Philippines. Some of the laundered money was used to purchase luxury items, including handbags and jewelry, which were seized by federal authorities in August 2025.
Butalid and Adlawan were indicted in August on multiple counts, including conspiracy, theft of federal funds, money laundering, and structuring financial transactions.
The indictment outlines a complex scheme that siphoned tens of thousands of dollars in federal education funds from PSS.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
