PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia's city treasurer has been fired in the wake of federal charges that he embezzled money in a former job and entered a sham marriage to get U.S. citizenship.
Christian Dunbar became treasurer just over a year ago, after three years as deputy treasurer and five years as a financial advisor at Wells Fargo before that.
Dunbar is the grandson of a Liberian president, who was said to be a descendant of Harriet Tubman.
He emigrated from the African nation when he was 9, just before the start of a civil war. The family later moved from Europe to the U.S., where he won a football scholarship to Temple University excelling at various positions through four seasons.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain alleged that it was while he was a student at Temple that he and his current wife both entered into sham marriages in order to get U.S. citizenship; that they lived together and even married overseas, but that he kept up the charade marriage until becoming a citizen in 2016.
“Two months later he conveniently filed the paperwork to divorce,” McSwain said.
McSwain said that around the same time, Dunbar was working as a wealth manager at Wells Fargo and allegedly took a total of $15,000 from two clients' accounts and deposited it into his own.
“The alleged conduct in this case shows a pattern of deception and dishonesty and criminality,” McSwain added.
A city spokesman said Mayor Kenney was unaware of the investigation.
A statement from the mayor said the inspector general will conduct a thorough review of the office to resolve any concerns about transactions during Dunbar's tenure.
Dunbar oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in bond sales.