CLEVELAND A federal judge this morning sentenced local financier A. Eddy Zai to seven years and three months in prison for his role in the massive loan fraud that caused the 2010 collapse of St. Paul Croatian FCU.
Zai, 45, is the head of The Cleveland Group, a local investment company that owns interest in several downtown commercial properties.
In addition to prison time, U.S. District Judge John Adams ordered Zai to pay $23 million restitution to NCUA, the largest restitution ever ordered in a credit union case.
The restitution relates to the losses Zai caused with fraudulent loans he arranged from the one-time $240 million credit union.
NCUA estimates the failure of St. Paul Croatian will cost the National CU Insurance Fund $185 million in losses, making it the biggest credit union fraud in history.
Zai admitted to paying thousands of dollars worth of bribes to Anthony Raguz, CEO of the credit union. Raguz was sentenced last November to 14 years in prison.
Zai is the ninth member of the credit union to be sentenced to prison for the massive loan fraud.
