10-Year Sentence for Woman Involved in $2 Million CU Loan Fraud Scheme

An Atlanta, Ga. woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a jury found her guilty of running a scheme that bilked more than $2 million in loans from 10 credit unions and other financial institutions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The 56-year-old Wynde Collins was sentenced on June 8 after a jury found her guilty of eight felony counts of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering.

Federal authorities discovered the loan scam during an investigation into a large-scale drug trafficking organization.

From June 2014 through December 2019, Collins directed the scheme to defraud financial institutions by falsifying employment, income, and collateral information on auto loan and mortgage loan applications with credit unions.

“Once the financial institutions funded the loans, Collins directed others, including co-conspirators, to launder the loan proceeds. In total, over two million in fraudulent loans were funded,” federal prosecutors said in a prepared statement.

Co-defendant Alvin Johnson, an automobile broker who conspired with Collins, signed a plea agreement with prosecutors and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 7. Johnson created multiple phony car dealerships and operated bank accounts for these fake businesses. The bogus dealerships were sellers of vehicles listed on loan applications. After the loan checks were received, the funds were deposited into bank accounts controlled by Collins and Johnson.

Court documents showed Collins also was involved in applying for and receiving a mortgage from Alcova Mortgage LLC, which was later acquired by Wells Fargo. The mortgage application included false information. The amount of the mortgage, however, was not disclosed.

According to court documents, the fraud scheme victimized the $166 billion Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, Va., the $11.5 billion Digital Federal Credit Union in Marlborough, Mass., the $33.5 billion Pentagon Federal Credit Union in McLean, Va., the $1.8 billion Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the $3.3 billion ORNL Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the $658 million Dover Federal Credit Union in Dover, Del., the $8.6 billion American Airlines Federal Credit Union in Fort Worth, Texas, the $2.8 billion All In Federal Credit Union, the $4.1 billion Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union in St. Paul, Minn. and the $3.9 billion TVA Employees Credit Union in Knoxville, Tenn.

Collins was ordered to pay $855,374 in restitution, and to forfeit $100,000 of the fraud proceeds she personally obtained.