COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the latest of a flurry of actions targeting executive wrongdoers, CUNA Mutual Group on Tuesday filed suit in federal court here to recover $150,000 from the former CEO, assistant manager and teller of a small Ohio credit union that its CUMIS Insurance Society unit paid to cover the embezzlement by the three employees.
The action is the seventh suit brought by the credit union insurer in recent weeks to recover bond payments attributed to executive wrongdoing, including an action brought last week to recover on a 19-year-old embezzlement of $283,000 from a former loan officer at San Diego Community CU.
In its new suit, CUMIS seeks recovery from Aileen Lehman, who in July was sentenced to four years prison for stealing more than $150,000 from the Athens, Ohio, credit union she headed, Hocking Valley CU, now called Atomic CU. The credit union insurer also is seeking recovery for a bond claim paid on the actions of Cindy Neel, who was assistant manager for the credit union, and her sister Kassandra Neel, a teller.
The $10-million credit union had taken out director or employee dishonesty coverage with a CUMIS bond that had a $1 million coverage limit, with a $2,500 deductible. The bond included a $25,000 audit expense, for which CUMIS also is seeking recovery.
The proof of loss filed by Hocking Valley CU claim “cash shortages” of $179,480; “money orders not recorded” of $26,295; “unauthorized credit card balances” of $22,764 and “audit reimbursement” of $25,000.
The three employees, according to the CUMIS suit, “used their positions of employment at Hocking Valley to engage in repeated fraudulent and/or dishonest acts to steal, convert, embezzle and/or otherwise misappropriate funds belonging to Hocking Valley.”
Lehman, the CEO, has already paid CUMIS $25,000 under a restitution order that was part of her guilty plea, but still owes the credit union insurer $150,000 of the $175,000 bond payment it made in the case.
According to her guilty plea, Lehman forged another person’s name without their consent to take transfer credit union funds to her own accounts. She was sentenced to four years in prison and to pay a $5,000 fine, $25,000 restitution, court costs and to write a letter of apology to the Board of Directors of her credit union.
