NCUA barred two people in June, issued one cease-and-desist

The National Credit Union Administration expelled two former credit union employees, forbidding them from engaging in the affairs of any federally insured institution, in June.

Carolin Lopez, who was formerly employed by the $8.7 million-asset 1st Bergen Federal Credit Union in Hackensack, New Jersey, can no longer participate in any and all business dealings of an insured depository institution, the NCUA said Thursday. During her tenure with the credit union, Lopez allegedly misappropriated roughly $32,130 in member funds by depositing false checks to her own account and using coworkers’ credentials to waive applicable fees, according to NCUA filings.

Stephanie Simontacchi, who between April 2016 and April 2019 was a senior accountant and accounting manager at the $7.6 billion-asset Redwood Credit Union in Santa Rosa, California, was indicted last year for siphoning checks intended for the credit union into personal bank and credit card accounts held outside the institution, as stated in NCUA documents. As a result, Redwood experienced a loss of approximately $437,000.

Both Lopez and Simontacchi agreed and consented to the prohibitions issued to them, confirming their compliance with all the terms and conditions presented, according to the agency’s press release.

In addition to the prohibition orders, the regulatory agency issued one cease-and-desist order to the $786,000-asset Inter-American Federal Credit Union in Brooklyn, New York, addressing supervisory concerns held by the NCUA board. The agency declined to provide further detail on its reasoning for the issuance.

With the inclusion of this month’s round of prohibitions, the tally of orders issued by the NCUA stands at 11 for the year so far.