A former branch manager for MetaBank in Sioux City, Iowa, pleaded guilty last week to selling more than $4 million of phony certificates of deposit to banks, credit unions and other entities, and now the buyers are trying to get their money back.
Guardian Angel Credit Union in Berlin, N.H., which bought a $99,000 CD it thought was issued by MetaBank, is one of about 50 institutions victimized in the scam, which ran between 1995 and 2008. The credit union has filed a civil suit against the $890 million-asset MetaBank.
Charlene Pickhinke, who worked at MetaBank for 28 years, confessed to selling the phony CDs, then using two bank accounts in the names of deceased bank customers to launder the proceeds from the scam.
Pickhinke, 48, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, making a false statement in a bank's records, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
