More Arrested in Municipal ATM Fraud

NEW YORK – Police have arrested an additional 74 people for defrauding the $1.1 billion Municipal Credit Union in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, 2001, according to a local media source. The attacks disabled the credit union’s network connections and prevented the institution from certifying that cardholders had sufficient funds in the accounts that they were accessing. However, the credit union kept its ATM network up, citing the need of its members, many of whom are municipal employees directly hurt by the attacks, for access to their money. Another 44 people are sought in the fraud, the source reported In August 2002, 94 people were arrested for the fraud and the majority was convicted. At the time the credit union minimized the problem, arguing that it was only going after people who had stolen more than $7,500 and had refused to enter into agreements with the institution to repay the funds. The media source reported that almost 4,200 credit union members are being investigated in connection with the theft of some $15 million from the institution. The credit union has almost 291,000 members overall.