Former Iowa CU CEO Pleads Guilty in $1.5 Million Embezzlement Case
Janine Keim admits she made false statements in NCUA Call Reports to conceal theft.
Former CEO Janine Keim pleaded guilty Monday before a federal court judge in Sioux City, Iowa to making false statements on NCUA Call Reports in a $1.5 million embezzlement case that led to the merger of the $5.2 million Consumers Credit Union.
Keim pleaded not guilty in December to the felony charges of making false statements and embezzlement. In exchange for her guilty plea, federal prosecutors dropped the embezzlement charge against the former CEO.
An indictment alleged Keim and another employee embezzled from CCU $1,486,647 from May 2012 to March 2018.
To conceal the theft, Keim filed false NCUA Call Reports in 2016 and 2017. At the end of 2016, the credit union’s Call Report indicated it had $876,524 of cash on hand and on deposit at other financial institutions. And at the end of the third quarter of 2017, CCU’s Call Report said it had $949,303 cash on hand and $1,880,154 in cash on deposit at other financial institutions, according to court documents.
The reported financial information was not true, federal prosecutors alleged.
“This was done to conceal monies or funds taken by defendant Keim and at least one other employee from NCUA auditors and examiners,” according to the indictment.
That other employee was Brenda Jensen, who pleaded guilty in October 2020 to embezzlement. She is scheduled to be sentenced in June.
At the end of the first quarter of 2018, CCU posted a loss of $1,465,421, according to NCUA financial performance reports.
Because of the credit union’s poor financial condition, the independent federal agency approved CCU’s consolidation with the $1.1 billion Cobalt Credit Union in Papillion, Neb., during the second quarter of 2018. Cobalt kept CCU’s sole branch in Denison open.