William Willie, public relationship coordinator for the Illinois Credit Union League, said the group had no comment about the court case, other than that the current and future stability of the chapter is not an issue.

Smith, 54, who pleaded guilty June 30, was indicted by a federal grand jury last fall.

The fraud was discovered in April 2012, when another LCCU employee initiated an internal investigation after discovering irregular transactions tied to the chapter's debit card issued to Smith, the court records said.

For two months, the whistleblower observed Smith making purchases and ATM withdrawals with the card.

Smith prevented the fraudulent transactions from posting to the chapter's account by turning off the debit card system and deactivating his debit card.

When the system was turned back on, the transactions were reported to LCCU but did not post to an account, the documents said.

In the credit union books, Smith concealed the theft by simply writing off the costs of the transactions as ATM operational expenses, the court documents said. As a result, the LCCU unknowingly paid for the expenditures, the documents said.

After the whistleblower reported the irregular activity, the credit union hired an accounting firm to conduct an audit, which discovered 140 fraudulent transactions associated with the card, the documents said.

Investigators confirmed that Smith used the chapter's debit card to make $58,286.85 in fraudulent purchases and ATM withdrawals from 2007 to 2012, according to court records.

LCCU submitted a claim for reimbursement from its insurance carrier for $58,286.85 and $24,650 for auditing services, according to court records.

Smith's sentencing is set for Sept. 29. He faces up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine, restitution and up to five years of supervised release.