Former CU CEO & Teller Plead Guilty to $1 Million Embezzlement Scam
The nine-year scam involves fake deposits and fake letters to the NCUA.
A former credit union president/CEO and a former employee admitted they embezzled more than $1 million that led to the closure of a Hawaiian credit union and a loss of more than $2 million to NCUA’s insurance fund.
Allennie Naeole, the former president/CEO of the $3.1 million First Hawaiian Homes Federal Credit Union in Hoolehua, on the island of Molokai, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds and aggravated identity theft, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu in February. Janell Purdy, who worked as a customer service representative and teller, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds.
Their sentencing hearings have not been scheduled.
Naeole and Purdy siphoned funds from the credit union over nine years.
They wrote checks from the credit union’s financial accounts to pay for the personal expenses of Naeole and her family members, according to court documents. They withdrew and spent more money from personal credit union accounts in their names and in the names of family members than was available in deposits, which created negative balances.
They concealed the negative balances by altering the books and records that showed fake deposits. They also covered up the negative balances by making it appear in the books that the balances were part of an outstanding loan in another person’s name that was payable to the credit union even though there was no loan authorized or issued. Naeole and Purdy also manipulated the books to make it appear as if the loan was being paid off, but in reality there were no loan payments being made, according to federal prosecutors.
Naeole made false statements, prepared bogus documents and delayed production of documents to the board of directors, including quarterly financial reports to the NCUA from September 2012 to September 2015, according to court documents.
What’s more, Naeole created and delivered a fake letter to an NCUA representative that the credit union maintained investments with the Bank of Hawaii. Naeole, who knew the investments did not exist, also forged the signature of the BOH’s branch manager on the letter, prosecutors said.
The NCUA liquidated the credit union in December 2015. First Hawaiian Homes’ assets were assumed by the $24 million Molokai Community Federal Credit Union of Kaunakakai as well as its member shares and most loans.