Loan Officer Financed His Own SubprimeAuto Scheme

CINCINNATI - (11/30/05) -- A former loan officer at U.S.Employees Butler County FCU pleaded guilty Monday to stealing morethan $240,000 from the credit union through a phony loan schemewhich he used to sell cars to subprime customers who weren'tmembers of the credit union. Nathan Marcum, 68, used the creditunion loans to buy cars over the Internet, then recruited localbuyers who were not credit union members, and sold them the cars atgreatly inflated prices. Then he set up phony loans at the creditunion to let the buyers pay for the cars. Marcum concealed theloans from credit union officials by manipulating the monthlytreasurer's report, prosecutors said. Marcum deposited the proceedsfrom the loan directly into his own credit union account. He thenreimbursed himself for the original purchase price and pocketed theprofit, using the credit union as a financing arm of his personalbusiness.