A man who spent years advising former President Barack Obama on policy is in custody in the United Kingdom after he was accused of a number of child sex crimes.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, 46-year-old Rahamim “Rami” Shy of New Jersey was apprehended in late February.
The report Sunday said he was arrested by officers in Bedfordshire, England.
Shy is charged with arranging the commission of a child sex offense, possession of indecent images of children and possessing a prohibited image of a child.
According to the Daily Mail, he appeared before a judge in Luton Crown Court on Friday to answer for the charges.
No further details about what led to the arrest or about Shy’s alleged crimes were revealed.
Former senior policy advisor to Obama White House charged with child sex offences in British court https://t.co/hAgJV1SVmd pic.twitter.com/ihas2Kzeds
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) April 21, 2024
The defendant, who was not required to enter a plea, will remain behind bars at least until a court hearing in June, the report said.
Do child sex crimes deserve stricter punishments?
His trial has been scheduled for August.
The report said Shy most recently was an executive with the Citi banking group, but a company spokesman said he no longer was employed there.
According to the Daily Mail, he was partially responsible for creating the White House’s strategy for combating al-Qaida and the Taliban.
It said the Obama administration sent him to Afghanistan during his time advising the White House.
While working for the Department of the Treasury from 2008 to 2014, Shy briefed top-level government officials on terror financing, according to the Daily Mail.
More specifically, the former White House adviser used his financial expertise to help target the groups’ funding operations.
Shy also worked for former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her time as secretary of state.
A professional page believed to have belonged to him is no longer active on the social media platform LinkedIn.
The page now reads, “Something went wrong.”
Shy, a graduate of Rutgers University, was unable to be reached for comment, the New York Post reported Monday.
