OAKLAND, Calif. – The former treasurer of Niman Ranch last week was indicted on charges of embezzling $1.6 million from the company that sells natural meat and laundering the funds through Cal State 9 CU, then Patelco CU, which took over the failed $440 million credit union in 2008.
Gary Gross, 61, oversaw the company’s payroll account at Washington Mutual Bank and several other bank accounts, according to the indictment, which alleges from April 2007 to June 2009 he made unauthorized transfers from the company’s bank accounts to his own credit union accounts. The indictment charges he then transferred the funds – a total of $1.6 million – to his own account at WaMu.
Gross was charged with 31 counts of wire fraud and 29 counts of money laundering.
The charges come a little more than a year after the financially troubled Niman Ranch was merged into its main investor, Natural Farm Holdings.
