A federal court has granted the NCUA a preliminary injunction preventing the dissipation of assets in its civil lawsuit against the estate of the late John C. DuPree Jr., the former manager of the now-liquidated Shiloh of Alexandria Federal Credit Union.
DuPree, who died at the age of 48 on April 4 – just one day before the $2.4 million financial co-op was liquidated by the NCUA – confessed to embezzlement in a suicide note, according to court documents. The credit union was located at a church just blocks from NCUA offices in Alexandria, Va.
The NCUA filed a civil lawsuit against DuPree's estate and his former fiancé Sharon Gonder on Nov. 19 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The agency, which is suing for $9.7 million in compensatory damages and is also seeking punitive damages, requested an injunction to prevent the dissipation of estate assets during litigation, according to the civil complaint.
The Dec. 5 order issuing the preliminary injunction states that Gonder and DuPree's mother, Mary H. DuPree, the administrator of his estate, agreed to abide by court orders prohibiting the sale, transfer or disposal of any of the former manager's assets, other than those specified by the courts.
DuPree, who worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, was the sole person responsible for posting transactions to the credit union's general ledger and maintaining its financial records, the NCUA said.
DuPree and Gonder allegedly concocted an elaborate certificate of deposit scheme, funneled much of the stolen money into their jointly owned company, JD Payne Properties, and used it to support a lavish lifestyle, including buying numerous cars and real estate, according to the civil complaint.
Since Shiloh of Alexandria had a low-income designation, the credit union's low income status allowed it to accept investment deposits, such as CDs, from non-member institutions, which DuPree and Gonder used to conduct an elaborate scheme, according to court documents.
DuPree, who worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, was the sole person responsible for posting transactions to the credit union's general ledger and maintaining its financial records, the NCUA said.
After DuPree's death and the credit union's closure, the NCUA launched a full investigation of Shiloh's books and discovered a suicide note on DuPree's credit union computer, which stated that he had been "stealing money from Shiloh Credit Union for several years now" and "betrayed the trust that everyone placed in me."
Shiloh of Alexandria FCU was founded in 1993 by the DuPree's father, the late John DuPree Sr., a pioneer of the community development credit union movement.
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