Federal Jury Convicts Maryland Man in Scheme to Defraud CU Members
The fraud involves five co-conspirators, including a credit union assistant branch manager.
After a five-day trial, a federal jury convicted Francis Arthur last month for money laundering and money laundering conspiracy to defraud members of the $343 million Nymeo Federal Credit Union in Frederick, Md.
The fraudulent scheme involved Valerie Hughes, a former assistant branch manager for the credit union who helped facilitate the theft of nearly $340,000 from a member’s account. Hughes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and is awaiting sentencing, according to court documents.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron in Greenbelt said Arthur, Hughes and the three other co-conspirators executed financial transactions designed to conceal the nature, source and ownership of the fraud scheme to steal cash from credit union members.
The jury acquitted Arthur, 35, of Silver Springs, Md., of a wire fraud charge.
In February 2017, Hughes was approached by co-conspirators Samuel Attakora and Kelvin Asare to participate in the fraud scheme, claiming they had done it before and had never been caught. They also promised her $80,000 to help them carry out the scheme, according to court documents.
They persuaded Hughes to identify dormant member accounts and provide the name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, current balance, account number and phone number for the accounts. Court documents showed Hughes identified at least two credit union accounts that could be used in the scheme.
In February 2017, another co-conspirator, Kokou Azianbidji, arrived at Nymeo’s Gaithersburg, Md., branch and handed Hughes a completed wire transfer form requesting the transfer of $327,000 from a credit union member’s account to a Wells Fargo business account held by Arthur. Azianbidji also gave Hughes a counterfeit Maryland driver’s license bearing his photo. Once the wire transfer was completed, he also withdrew $6,000 from the credit union member’s account, which was processed by Hughes, court documents showed.
In March 2017, Azianbidji returned to Nymeo’s Gaithersburg branch and requested an $80,000 wire transfer from the same credit union member’s account to the Wells Fargo business account held by Arthur. Azianbidji also requested a $6,000 withdrawal from this account, which again was processed by Hughes, according to court documents.
However, the wire transfer was not authorized because another Nymeo employee recognized that Azianbidji was not the credit union member who held that account.
Prosecutors said the conspirators transferred, withdrew cash and issued cashiers’ checks with the money they stole, and purchased motor vehicles in an attempt to conceal that the funds were derived from the fraud scheme.
Court documents did not say whether Hughes received the $80,000 she was promised for participating in the scheme.
Arthur’s sentencing date has not been scheduled.
Court records showed in 2019, Azianbidji was sentenced to 44 months in prison and Asare was sentenced to 25 months in prison. They were also ordered to pay $339,000 in restitution to Nymeo.
In addition to Hughes, Attakora and a fifth co-conspirator, Gifty Amponsah, are awaiting sentencing.