FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The former president of General CU told authorities he cooked the books of the credit union to conceal as much as $1.6 million in order to help members "down on their luck."
David Thieme, 49, pleaded guilty to misappropriating $800,000 from the $82 million credit union and faces up to eight years in prison, prosecutors said.
Thieme was arrested and charged in April after a year-long fraud investigation that began when three employees at the credit union reported irregularities related to transactions conducted under Thieme’s teller code.
An outside auditor hired by the credit union found that the then-CEO used a number of schemes to cover loan delinquencies, such as improperly using other funds to make payments on delinquent loans, transferring money from accounts over which he served as trustee, and overpaying a member for contracted janitorial service and using the excess money to reduce that member’s loan balance. As a result of the investigation, the credit union wrote off $1.6 million in anticipated loan-related losses.
Thieme denied stealing the money, saying some of the transactions were to help credit union members "down on their luck," according to court documents. But according to court documents, Thieme’s job performance evaluation and compensation package were tied in part to his ability to maintain loan delinquencies at a certain level.
A week after he was fired, Thieme returned to the credit union and paid nearly $800,000 on the loans that were taken out using trust accounts he supervised as collateral, according to court documents.
