The president of the former Telco Federal Credit Union was sentenced to time served for a 2008 scheme that involved falsifying records to cover up delinquent loans, according to the U. S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York.

Donna Harabin, 61, of Clearwater, Fla., pleaded guilty in September to bank fraud charges that carried a maximum term of 30 years and $1 million in fines. She was sentenced Dec. 11.

She was convicted of making false credit institution entries between January 2008 and December 2008 while serving as president and manager of the $20 million Telco FCU in of Elmira, NY.

Unlike most of the recent fraud cases committed by other credit union executives, Harabin's crime does not appear to have been for personal financial gain, according to court documents.

Harabin admitted that she changed the due dates and entered false payments to conceal from examiners the fact that 75% of the credit union's 179 loans were delinquent, and she changed the dates of delinquency on loans she knew were going to be foreclosed upon or repossessed in order to make them appear more current, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled the case.

The scheme was discovered in 2008 during a FBI investigation. Telco FCU merged in 2009 with the $1.2 billion Empower Federal Credit Union in Syracuse.

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