A former credit union president and league chapter treasurer who faced up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for bank fraud was sentenced Oct. 21 to one day in prison and a $4,000 fine, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
Paul C. Smith, who served as president of the former Laclede Community Credit Union and treasurer of the Illinois Credit Union League's George G. Burnett chapter, was also ordered to pay $93,430 in restitution, the documents said.
Smith, 54, was placed on two years of supervised release including one year with an imposed curfew and location monitoring.
Earlier this year, the $67 million, 10,400-member LCCU in Alton, Ill., merged with the $509 million, 45,500-member 1st MidAmerica Credit Union in Bethalto, Ill.
Smith, who worked at LCCU from 2007 to 2012, admitted he used a league debit card to pay for personal expenses for more than five years, the documents said.
Smith's crimes were first discovered by a whistleblower, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
After receiving a tip from a whistleblower, investigators confirmed Smith used the card for almost $60,000 in fraudulent purchases and ATM withdrawals, court documents said.
He manipulated 140 transactions so that the expenditures were diverted away from the trade association's account and into LCCU's unposted items, according to court documents.
To recover its losses, LCCU submitted a claim for reimbursement from its insurance carrier for $58,286.85 and $24,650 for auditing services, court documents showed.
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