Member Business Loan Goes from Dream to Nightmare

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – A former member of Central CU was convicted on federal fraud charges in obtaining a $300,000 member business loan for a neighborhood bar he called ‘Dream Café’, the first case of a multi-million dollar member business-loan-scheme-gone-bad that sunk the $75 million credit union. Daniel Eleftheriades, a Greek immigrant who opened his diner in his hometown of Norwalk, Ct., faces more than 10 years in jail when he is sentenced May 29. The Eleftheriades loan is one of $17 million worth of questionable MBLs brokered for Central CU by a local figure in the Greek community, Theodore Georgacopoulos. Losses on the 33 loans, estimated in the millions of dollars, forced the credit union to merge last year into Progressive CU. Prosecutors claim Georgacopoulos helped qualify the borrowers by filing false loan applications and documentation.