NCUA official seal. (Source: NCUA)
Six former credit union employees, including a CEO, board member, controller and head teller, were banned from participating in the affairs of any insured financial institutions, the NCUA said Friday.
Kolade Awoyade, a former head teller of the $412,775 Greater Abyssinia Federal Credit Union, was sentenced to three years and ten months in 2018 after pleading guilty to embezzlement, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Awoyade and the former manager and treasurer of the Cleveland-based credit union, Gwendolyn Dubose, were ordered to pay $321,497 in restitution, an amount that represented nearly 78% of the credit union's assets that was liquidated because of their crimes. Dubose was sentenced last year to five years and four months in prison after pleading guilty to embezzlement, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and making false entries in credit union records and reports. The NCUA banned Dubose in March.
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Grover Thurman, a former secretary and treasurer of the board and credit committee member of the $11.2 million Mid East Tennessee Community Credit Union and Joshua Thurman, the former controller for the Decatur, Tenn.-based financial cooperative, were banned by the NCUA because they knew and allowed the filing of false Call Reports in 2018 that contained inaccurate financial information intended to manipulate the credit union's net worth ratio. They have not admitted or denied the findings of the independent federal agency. In October, the NCUA banned the former Mid East Tennessee CU President/CEO Richard Fortney for the same violation. The credit union was conserved by the independent federal agency in April for unsafe and unsound practices. The credit union, which remains under conservatorship, posted a net loss of $653,780, a net worth of 0.89% and an ROAA of -7.48% at the end of the third quarter, according to NCUA financial performance reports.
Tammy Margucci, a former branch manager of the $84.3 million Lanco Federal Credit Union in Lancaster, Pa., was sentenced by a county judge for "theft by unlawful taking—movable property." According to court documents reported by local media outlets in December 2008, Margucci confessed to stealing more than $27,000 from the vault over three months to pay off a credit card and to "start her acting career." Her theft was detected by other employees during a cash count of the vault's funds.
Kelly Jo Hill, former president/CEO of the $41.5 million WV National Guard Federal Credit Union in Charleston, W. Va., allegedly submitted loan applications that contained false or incomplete information, issued unauthorized loans to herself and family members, and misappropriated for her own use a check made payable to the credit union for more than $4,000. Hill has neither admitted nor denied the NCUA's findings.
Brandon Corey Suarez, a former employee of the $4.8 billion Space Coast Credit Union in Melbourne, Fla., was sentenced after pleading guilty to the criminal use of personal identification, organized fraud to obtain property, grand theft, and making false entries into the books of a corporation, according to the NCUA.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
