Danny Ray Butler had been a long time member of Alabama One who ran a used car business and dabbled in real estate development. He pleaded guilty to defrauding the Small Business Administration and check kiting in February 2014. Butler went to prison at the federal prison in Talladega, Ala., in September 2014.

"A cursory review of the document by plaintiff Colburn revealed that a payment of twenty-two thousand, five hundred and no/100 ($22,500.00) dollars had apparently been made, on or about November 12, 2010, and that such payment had been made upon the forged signatures of both plaintiff Colburn and her husband, Samuel Colburn.," the complaint read.

"Plaintiff Colburn subsequently learned that the referenced money had been paid over to defendant Danny Ray Butler, by personnel at defendant Alabama One including but not necessarily limited to loan officer and defendant Tammy Ewing, and without any advance knowledge, consent or instruction from either plaintiff Colburn or her husband Samuel Colburn," it added.

The theft's impact was further aggravated because the Colburns had been reserving the money for their son's tuition at the University of Alabama and, in fact, it was only in the course of trying to access the money to pay that tuition that they found the money had been stolen, according to the complaint.

In a subsequent email, Alabama One CEO John Dee Carruth contested the complaint's version of the situation and said that a forenic analysis of the signatures that were forged showed that all the signatures, including the credit union employee's were forgeries. He also challenged the idea that the signatures were requred for the cash advance:

"The document at issue was simply a record for the file regarding the advance on the line of credit and was not required for the loan," Carruth wrote. "Another credit union employee at the time resigned her position when she learned she would be questioned about her undisclosed relationship with the borrower who made the claim against the credit union."

In previous reports, Alabama One CEO Carruth has declined to answer questions about why Tammy Ewing still works at Alabama One and has not been put on administrative leave.

Legal sources close to the case reported that Butler had been Colburn's employer in the used auto business and that the Colburns had been the parties to which Alabama One had allegedly loaned money as part of the many straw loans the credit union made to benefit Butler.

The loan was on a house on Woodhaven Avenue in Tuscaloosa and the settlement saw the Colburns return the house to Alabama One as a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The settlement did not discuss the return of the missing $22,500, but a legal source familiar with the case reported that credit union announced it had paid the money back and that it had appeared in the HELOC's balance available after the couple filed suit. Carruth also contested that the credit union repaid the money, saying that he didn't know who had repaid the money.