Former CEO Pleads Not Guilty to Embezzlement Charges
Twenty-year executive of Prairie View FCU, Gloria Hall, faces a scheduled jury trial in late November.
Gloria Jean Hall, former president/CEO of the $3.2 million Prairie View Federal Credit Union, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of embezzlement and one felony count of making false entries to financial records during a hearing at U.S. District Court in Houston last week.
Her jury trial has been scheduled to begin on or after Nov. 29, according to court records.
Hall was named CEO in 2000 of the Prairie View, Texas-based federal credit union that served more than 600 members. But it wasn’t until January 2010 when Hall allegedly began her fraudulent schemes by using 34 accounts, the majority of which belong to elderly members. She allegedly embezzled approximately $211,563 from their accounts, according to federal prosecutors.
What’s more, Hall created loans totaling nearly $791,000, allegedly withdrew the loans and cashed $76,772 in numerous unauthorized checks from member accounts for her own personal use and benefit.
Prosecutors also said Hall allegedly fraudulently formed 58 nominee loans by creating fake share loans in the names of relatives and friends. She allegedly transferred money across the loans to make payments among them, moved funds mainly from elderly member accounts into the accounts of her relatives and friends, and created phony monthly loan statements.
Her alleged crimes continued through August 2020, prosecutors said.
Hall remains free on a $50,000 bond.
Because of its poor financial condition, PVFCU received the approval to merge with the $339 million, 24,649-member Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union in Houston, according to NCUA’s Q1 Merger Activity and Insurance Report.
From 2010 to 2020 when Hall was allegedly pilfering funds, PVFCU posted meager gains in two of those years and showed mostly double-digit losses in eight of those years. At the end of 2013 and 2020, however, PVFCU recorded losses of $127,561 and $224,509, respectively. At the end of 2021, the credit union posted a loss of $20,935, according to NCUA financial performance reports.