Former UCSF worker sentenced to prison for diverting $1.5 million in tuition payments

A San Francisco woman who worked for the University of California has been sentenced to 20 months in prison after being convicted for stealing $1.5 million in student tuition payments, according to a press release from the United States District Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. 

Sandra (Sandi) Eileen Le, 55, of San Francisco was indicted in 2021 for the charges, and she pleaded guilty in November 2023. She admitted to prosecutors that she was the Academic Program Officer for two of University of California, San Francisco's nursing programs. As part of her scheme, she would direct nursing students to make their tuition payment checks out to her directly or leave the payee line blank so she could later fill in a name, the release said. 

Le admitted to depositing the checks into her person bank accounts and then used the funds to pay for luxury items. She stated she used the funds for gambling, home improvement and other personal expenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. 

Le told prosecutors she concealed her misconduct by creating fake records of payments and student enrollment at the university. Le was charged with diverting almost 300 checks between November 2013 and March 2019. The total amount diverted was more than $1.53 million. 

Authorities began investigating Le in May 2019 when she took a leave of absence after facing scrutiny from UCSF's Audit and Advisory Services Unit. Investigators conducted interviews with dozens of students after the university realized the were discrepancies in Le's records. 

Le is ordered to surrender by May 10 to begin serving a 20-month prison term. She is also being asked to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution. When Le is eventually released from prison, she will serve an additional three years on supervised release.