CLEVELAND A local restaurant owner was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday and ordered to pay $1.7 million in restitution for taking out fraudulent loans from St. Paul Croatian FCU, the one-time $240-million credit union that collapsed in 2010 amid the biggest credit union fraud ever.
Bujar “Benny” Sejdic, owner of the Sunfield Restaurant in nearby Ottawa, is the eighth member of the credit union to be jailed in the huge fraud, projected to cost NCUA $185 million to resolve. Sejdic pleaded guilty to financial institution fraud last October, for giving gifts for procuring loans and three counts of money laundering related to his activities at the credit union.
From January 2004 to March 2010, Sejdic obtained 25 loans totaling more than $1.6 million from SPCFCU. These loans were made fraudulently, under false pretenses, and many were made after Sejdic already had defaulted on previous loans, according to court documents.
Sejdic admitted to the court he obtained these loans with the assistance of the credit union’s then-CEO, Anthony Raguz. In return, Sejdic gave Raguz one check and cash gifts totaling $40,000, according to official documents.
Raguz is serving a 14-year prison sentence for crimes related to the credit union’s collapse.
In 2009 and 2010, Sejdic wired $240,000 from his credit union account to an account in Belgrade, Serbia. As a result of Sejdic’s actions, St. Paul Croatian and NCUA lost more than $1.6 million.
