Koss must also repay the full $225,000 within 30 days, under Ponsor’s order; most of the funds have already been repaid.SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The former CEO of Western Mass. Electric Co. CU. was sentenced to four years supervised release and ordered by a federal judge to write a letter of apology to the $33 million credit union he headed for three decades for stealing $225,000 in phantom expense reimbursements.
“I’m waiting to hear I’m very sorry for what I did,” Judge Michael Posner told Robert Koss, 68, who ran the credit union until 2006, during yesterday's sentencing hearing.
A younger defendant would likely have received a two-year prison sentence, according to the judge, who said going to prison “would be extremely dangerous” to Koss, who appeared in court in a wheelchair.
From the late 1990s and through 2006, Koss collected about $225,000 from invented or inflated expense reimbursements. He pleaded guilty last September to embezzlement and tax evasion charges.
Koss must also repay the full $225,000 within 30 days, under Ponsor’s order; most of the funds have already been repaid.
