Union Exec Guilty In CU Scheme
PHILADELPHIA-The president of the local aerospace union here was convicted this week of a $2.5-million loan scheme that offered unqualified people membership at Boeing Helicopters CU, where he doubled as an executive, in exchange for kickbacks.
Daniel Forte, the president of United Aerospace Workers Local 1069, who was also EVP and marketing director at the $110-million credit union, pled guilty to the scheme, which charged 7% commissions on unsecured loans up to $20,000 to individuals who would not have qualified for membership in the credit union.
Prosecutors said Forte, his brother David Forte, and six others, earned more than $105,000 from the kickback scheme, which sanctioned at least 127 loans for more than $2.5 million. Under the scheme, the unqualified members were furnished with false signature cards before they were approved for unsecured loans up to $20,000. Some loan applications listed phony relatives and included inflated incomes. Those who received $20,000 loans had to kick back as much as $1,400, according to a September 2008 federal indictment in the case.
Charges against Forte's brother and alleged co-conspirator Thomas Tuohey, who owns a local auto repair shop, are still pending.
CUNA CEO Search Moves Ahead
WASHINGTON-CUNA has hired executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates of New York to help it find a successor to Dan Mica, who has announced he will step down as head of the credit union group in January 2011.
Plans call for the firm to provide the group's CEO search committee with recommendations for at least one candidate from inside the credit union movement and one from outside, according to sources familiar with the search.
Separately, CUNA insiders say a top candidate could be FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, who has worked with the credit union lobby and has risen to national prominence during the current banking crisis.
Other candidates being discussed are: Texas CU League President Dick Ensweiler; Bill Cheney, president of the California and Nevada leagues; former NCUA Chairman Dennis Dollar; and, former NCUA and Federal Housing Finance Board member Geoff Bacino.
There are not expected to be any shortages in candidates for the position, which paid Mica $1.9 million last year, one of the highest compensations for a Washington trade association executive.
Mica, 65, a former Congressman, has led CUNA for 13 years.
