Legal issues and news

PHILADELPHIA – A local handyman was charged last week with stealing an 80-year-old man’s Franklin Mint FCU ATM card to steal more than $70,000 from the elderly member’s credit union account.

BOSTON – A real estate lawyer was sentenced Friday to 51 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $3 million in escrow funds he was holding for First Citizen’s FCU, Ocean Spray Employees’ FCU and several local banks.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A local man was arrested and charged with using a stolen MidFlorida Community CU credit card to make a $1,000 down payment and drive off with a $12,000 used car last week.

PITTSBURGH – A federal judge last week issued an $811,000 default judgment on behalf of CUMIS Insurance Society against a former credit union executive scheduled to go on trial in massive fraud that sunk nearby Lawrence County School Employees’ FCU.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. – John Annaloro, a fixture in the credit union movement for more than 25 years, first as a senior executive at the California CU League, then head of the Washington CU League (now the Northwest CU Association), the trade group for 200 credit unions, announced his retirement this afternoon.

PLEASANTON, Calif. – SafeAmerica CU announced the hiring of Barry Roach, a senior executive at nearby Meriwest CU, as president and CEO of the $300 million credit union.

MATTESON, Ill. – The Illinois Division of Financial Institutions on Friday liquidated $40 million USA One National CU and the remnants of the privately insured credit union were assigned by its insurer American Share Insurance, to Credit Union 1, the Lombard, Ill., credit union that has been picking up privately insured failures the past few years.

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. -- Robins FCU held fundraisers in branches across the mid-state in order to raise funds for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and raised almost $49,000 for the cause.

WASHINGTON – Members of the credit union-start-up REALTORS FCU, billed as the nation’s first virtual credit union, voted over the weekend during the annual convention of its sponsor, the National Association of REALTORS, to merge the $75 million credit union into nearby giant Northwest FCU.

GALVESTON, Texas -- Ongoing, strong membership growth across the country is not keeping the Texas CU League from rolling out new efforts aimed at getting more consumers to leave their banks.

LOS ALTOS, Calif.-Credit unions are being urged to pay more attention to fraud detection than fraud prevention this year.

LOS ALTOS, Calif.-At a time when criminals are ramping up their efforts, banks and credit unions are racing to add mobile services, which is only opening the door wider to thieves seeking members' financial data.

MADISON, Wis.-CUNA Mutual Group said it has taken on a policy of "aggressively" pursuing civil litigation against credit union employees who steal from its insured CUs.

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.-When it comes to fraudulent account-opening via indirect auto lending, one person says that there's no need for greater concern than there would be with any other new account.

BROOKFIELD, Wis.-The value of close teamwork between the credit union and vendor is reflected in fraud savings.

MISSOULA, Mont.-Surprise audits and dual controls are powerful weapons for credit unions seeking to prevent employee fraud, according to Roberta Smith.

EVERETT, Wash.-Internal fraud is typically the result of three elements-incentives/pressures, rationalization and opportunities. But the only part of this "Fraud Triangle" credit unions can control is the latter.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-Credit unions need to pay greater attention to PIN fraud, because it's rising fast.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.-The speed at which fraudsters attack and alter their tactics is changing the game in card fraud prevention, making real-time monitoring much more essential.

DES MOINES, Iowa-Criminals are nothing if not innovative and imaginative. For that reason, Credit Union Journal queried card processors to identify the latest card fraud trends.