The victimized banks were the $1.7 trillion Wells Fargo Bank in Sioux Falls, S.D., the $201 billion Sun Trust Bank in Atlanta, Ga., and $74 billion Santander Bank in Boston.

Because Flemings, Barron and Lyles and the people they recruited to apply for the online loans had poor credit, they fraudulently “cleaned,” or “repaired” their credit reports by submitting fake police reports to credit reporting agencies that the negative information on their credit reports were caused by ID thieves, which forced the credit reporting agencies to erase the negative credit items.

The suspects and co-conspirators also submitted with their online loan applications fake employment and income information and bogus information about the cars to be purchased with the loans.

Federal prosecutors said Barron created four auto dealerships as a front that purported to sell the cars. He also set up fake websites, bank accounts, addresses and purchase orders associated with the auto dealerships.

Proceeds from the loans were deposited into accounts controlled by Barron or other co-conspirators.

Once the loans defaulted and the credit unions took steps to collect the debts, the suspects claimed they were victims of ID theft and submitted false police reports that they did not authorize the loans.

Moreover, Lyles, who copped a plea deal with prosecutors, admitted that he was involved with running a fraudulent home equity line of credit scheme that victimized Affinity FCU, USAlliance FCU and the $67 million Motion FCU in Linden, N.J. from March 2014 to May 2015.

According to court documents, Barron and Flemings were not involved in this scheme.

Along with the online HELOC applications, Lyles submitted fake employment information, false statements about assets and liabilities, occupancy misrepresentations, and bogus pay stubs, utility bills and insurance information. He also created the identity of another person with a falsified driver's license and Social Security card.

Through this HELOC scheme, Lyles netted up more than $550,000 but less than $1.5 million, according to court documents.

What's more, while Lyles was defrauding Motion FCU, he was indicted by New Jersey authorities in another unrelated real estate loan scheme. And while he was defrauding Affinity FCU and USAlliance FCU, Lyles pleaded guilty to the real estate loan fraud charges and was on bond awaiting sentencing, according to federal prosecutors.

Lyles' plea agreement was not publicly available online. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

Barron and Flemings have not entered their pleas to the charges. Barron has been accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and money laundering. Flemings has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.