Former California CU Branch Manager Faces March Sentencing in TikTok Case

Esther Andrade Olson, a former assistant branch manager for the $4.5 billion Educational Employees Credit Union in Fresno, Calif., who stole from members’ accounts to promote herself on TikTok, is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

Although she signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors in August to plead guilty to one felony count of embezzlement by a credit union employee, her change of plea hearing was not held until last week in a Fresno federal courtroom, according to court filings.

Olson of Hanford also agreed to pay restitution not to exceed $65,000. During an arraignment on June 1, Olson denied the prosecutor’s allegations.

She made unauthorized cash withdrawals totaling $60,080 from the accounts of four credit union members from July 5 to Aug. 30, 2022. In September, EECU launched an internal investigation after receiving information from a member that a $35,000 unauthorized withdrawal had been made on an account. The credit union’s investigation also determined Olson stole $18,000 from a second member’s account, $7,000 from a third member’s account and $80 from a fourth member’s account.

The credit union shared its audit findings in November with the FBI, which launched its own investigation.

“Ms. Olson generally made the unauthorized cash withdrawals by bringing up the victims’ accounts while she was assisting other credit union members who were physically in front of her at the teller window to make it appear as though she had legitimate reasons to access (EECU’s) cash stores,” according to the plea agreement. “When (EECU’s) branch was closed, Ms. Olson made the unauthorized cash withdrawals in this manner to conceal her misconduct from others, and she was able to make the withdrawals because she was an assistant branch manager who enjoyed significant discretion.”

Although Olson acknowledged she made the withdrawals, she falsely stated the members had approved them.

She began working at EECU in 2005 as a financial representative and was promoted to assistant manager at the Tulare branch in 2019, her LinkedIn profile page and court documents showed.

When questioned by EECU’s risk management team that was investigating the alleged fraud on Sept. 15, 2022, Olson said, “I know how this goes. I’m done.” She then quit her job without any prior notice to the credit union and later landed a new job at another financial institution, according to court documents.

TikTok records produced in response to an FBI subpoena confirmed that Olson has a TikTok account with thousands of followers, according to an FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against Olson filed in federal court.

Olson’s EECU account records and her account records from Bank One showed that from April to December 2022, she spent more than $60,000 on TikTok.

TikTok users can send each other TikTok coins, which are purchased with cash. The coins can be converted into virtual credits called diamonds that can be withdrawn by recipients on TikTok. The diamonds can be exchanged for money for deposit into their bank accounts.

The FBI investigation revealed that Olson had dated a man in Texas whom she met on TikTok. This man, who was not identified in the affidavit, had hundreds of thousands of followers.

Olson sent this man thousands of dollars and traveled to Texas on several occasions while she was stealing cash from EECU’s members, according to the FBI investigation.

READ MORE: Esther Andrade Olson’s plea agreement.