The chief financial officer of Youth With A Mission’s University of the Nations in Kailua-Kona is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, accused of stealing more than $1.5 million from the international Christian school.

The FBI charged Pablo M. Rivera on Jan. 27 with wire fraud but had the criminal complaint sealed until his arrest and appearance in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. The federal prosecutor is asking the court to order Rivera to remain in custody without the opportunity for release on bail. The court scheduled a hearing on the request for Monday.

According to the complaint, Rivera stole money beginning around September 2014 up until last month by altering invoices from a general building contractor hired to do construction and maintenance on the Kailua-Kona campus, inflating the cost of material and labor, then pocketing the difference.

The FBI says in the complaint that the school paid the invoices by transferring money from its account into one controlled by Rivera and the general contractor. Rivera then made withdrawals from the general contractor’s account and falsely claimed that the money went to pay subcontractors.

The owner of the Minnesota-based company told the FBI he made Rivera an authorized signer on the account because Rivera told him it was necessary to comply with Hawaii regulations.

The school’s security director reported the alleged theft of $1.5 million to $2 million on Jan. 25.