Legal issues and news

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Five tellers at VyStar CU, a Citibank credit card employee and a hospital worker were among those charged today in a ring that stole the identities of at least 185 people and used their information to file fraudulent tax returns and cash refund checks of almost $600,000.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA has been filing suits furiously for recovery in the St. Paul Croatian FCU fraud for which the agency now estimates losses will exceed $186 million, making it the biggest credit union fraud ever.

BARTOW, Fla. -- The Polk County Sheriff's Office is warning the public that devices known as skimmers have been found recently on MidFlorida CU ATMs in Bartow and Haines City, as well as several Publix ATMs.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The former manager of Enterprise CU pled guilty yesterday to embezzling $817,000 from the Enterprise-based credit union.

CLEVELAND – NCUA, which estimates losses of as much as $170 million on the collapse of St. Paul Croatian FCU, is in line to receive payments due on several downtown Cleveland properties totaling $16.7 million under a plea deal with a local financier convicted of swindling the one-time $240 million credit union.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a request by members of New London Security FCU to recover $4 million of uninsured deposits from NCUA they lost in the spectacular 2008 failure of the $13 million credit union, which involved the suicide of the credit union’s investment manager.

TULSA, Okla. – A member of Tulsa FCU and Tulsa Teachers CU pleaded guilty Friday to using another person’s identity to borrow $230,000 and buy six vehicles, including a Winnebago motorhome from the two credit unions.

CLEVELAND – Authorities on Friday charged Aziz Ukshini, the owner of Hard Rock Crushing Ltd.; and Azmet Inc., with obtaining $2.8 million in 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.

IOWA CITY – A member of University of Iowa Community CU was charged with second-degree theft that resulted in fraudulent checks deposited at a credit union ATM.

TOPEKA, Kan. – The former manager of Enterprise CU has agreed to plead guilty to embezzling $817,000 from the Enterprise-based credit union.

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.