ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA has received nearly $5.4 million in restitution from a fraud prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's office of the Northern District of New York.
In August 2012, Laura Conarton and her son, Scott Lonzinski, both of Susquehanna County, Pa.,
Conarton and Lonzinski used fake certificates of deposit as collateral to secure commercial loans from BCT from July 2009 to February 2012, with Conarton even pretending to be an employee at People's National Bank of St. Louis.
Lonzinski used the proceeds from the loans to finance and purchase vehicles for his construction business, purchase and remodel his Pennsylvania home, and to purchase vehicles for himself and family members, according to a statement from the court.
The $5,391,641 recovery followed the seizure of bank accounts and property by the U.S. Attorney's office and will be returned to the Share Insurance Fund.
"An alert NCUA examiner uncovered this fraud, and diligent work by the U.S. Attorney's office and NCUA's Asset Management and Assistance Center made this recovery possible," NCUA chairman Debbie Matz said in a statement.
"None of BCT's former members suffered losses on their insured shares. "We are especially grateful that the Department of Justice was able to obtain this restitution for the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund," Matz said.
"While much of what the fraudulently obtained money was spent on can never be recovered, our office seized seven vehicles, three bank accounts, two real estate properties — one home and one vacant piece of land — and cash," according to U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian.
"It is through these forfeitures that we are able to partially restore the losses to NCUA," he said. "We have a very astute and aggressive Forfeiture Litigation Unit that works tirelessly on behalf of victims, as in this case."
Visions Federal Credit Union of Endicott, N.Y., purchased and assumed BCT's assets, liabilities and member shares.
