A September 2022 indictment originally charged her with three felony counts of embezzlement and one felony count of making false entries in financial records.

In exchange for her guilty plea to one felony count of embezzlement, prosecutors agreed to drop the other three felony charges.

At the sentencing hearing, however, the court heard additional forensic accounting evidence that detailed the depth and length of her fraudulent scheme.

Hall’s indictment charged that from 2010 to 2020, she carried out several fraudulent schemes which, in addition to stealing funds from elderly account holders, she allegedly created fraudulent nominee or straw-buyer loans, withdrew funds from those loans, and cashed numerous unauthorized checks from PVFCU.

According to court documents, Hall allegedly used $791,000 of the credit union’s funds to open 58 nominee loans in the names of relatives and friends. She then transferred funds from elderly members’ accounts into the member accounts of those relatives and friends. She also allegedly transferred money across the nominee loans to make payments among them.

In addition, Hall allegedly used $76,722 of the credit union’s funds for PVFCU checks for her personal use, according to court documents.

During the sentencing hearing, the cultural and historical significance of the PVFCU was noted, according to federal prosecutors.

“Gloria Hall’s crimes upended more than just her victims,” Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams of the FBI Houston Field Office said in a prepared statement. “Not only did Hall take advantage of her position to rob elderly bank customers of their life savings to enrich herself, but she also robbed the credit union of its 80-plus-years history when it was forced to merge with another institution as a direct result of her stealing.”

PVFCU was one of the oldest continually operational federal credit unions established in 1937 by the historically black Prairie View A&M University. The credit union served 628 members when it was consolidated with the $362 million, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union in Houston during the first quarter of 2022.

At that time, the NCUA said PVFCU was merged because it was in poor financial condition.

Hall apparently managed to conceal her crimes because she had total control of the credit union’s internal operations.

During her CEO tenure, federal prosecutors said she did little to modernize the credit union’s services and record keeping. PVFCU did not offer online or mobile banking, ATM services or mobile deposit for checks, which forced members to visit the branch to conduct their transactions.

"Essentially, Hall single-handedly approved all share secured loans, personally communicated with major account holders and exclusively handled their financial transactions," prosecutors said. "Hall singularly worked with the credit union bookkeeper, and controlled access to all the books and records of the credit union. Hall handled the shredding of credit union documents, and she controlled the information and documents provided to the PVFCU board of directors."