Conspirator From Gang of Eight Admits to Targeting Credit Union Shared Branching Network

Victor Barriera was the first of eight persons to admit in federal court that he was involved in a national fraud conspiracy ring that targeted the credit union shared branching network, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District in Albany, N.Y., said last week.

Barriera, 63, of the Bronx, N.Y., pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He stole $148,352 and attempted to steal an additional $15,000 while working as a member of the conspiracy.

Barriera admitted that he and seven other conspirators exploited the Co-op Solutions Shared Branch Network by creating fake identifications in the names of real credit union members, but with photographs of other individuals, including Barriera. He and other conspirators conducted nearly 60 fraudulent transactions at shared branch member credit unions throughout the nation in exchange for drugs or about 10% of the stolen funds, according to federal prosecutors.

The gang of eight stole nearly $1 million between December 2021 and April 2023.

In his plea agreement, Barriera agreed to pay $148,352 in restitution and forfeit $10,000 that was seized by police in May 2022 when Barriera and two other conspirators, David Daniyan and Gaysha Kennedy, were caught attempting to defraud a Cohoes, N.Y., branch of the $2.6 billion CAP COM Federal Credit Union, where employees became suspicious and called police.

CAP COM merged into the $5.5 billion State Employees Federal Credit Union during the summer of 2022 to form the Broadview Federal Credit Union in Albany, N.Y.

According to prosecutors, Daniyan supplied the fake ID to Barriera that bore the personally identifiable information of a member of another out-of-state credit union.

Daniyan, who was often on the phone with Barriera during the fraudulent transactions, instructed Barriera how to respond to questions posed to him by credit union employees, court documents showed.

Barriera’s sentencing hearing is set for August.

Daniyan, Kennedy and five other conspirators have various criminal charges pending against them in federal court.