LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The former Vice President of the
Louisville Metro Police Officer’s Credit Union has been charged and pleaded
guilty to a two count Information with fraud and aggravated identity theft,
announced United States Attorney Russell Coleman.
“We expect our bankers to be of the highest integrity,
especially those that serve the families of Louisville’s Finest,” stated U.S.
Attorney Russell Coleman. “When financial professionals abandon this high
standard, robust federal prosecution awaits.”
Josephine M. Crowe, 46, of Louisville, Kentucky, was charged
in a criminal Information with one count of financial institution fraud and one
count of aggravated identity theft as part of a scheme to defraud the
Louisville Metro Police Officer’s Credit Union of over $3 million during a four
year period.
According to the Information, beginning no later than
January 2013, and continuing to on or about November 22, 2017, Crowe stole cash
from the Credit Union’s vault and teller drawers. In order to compensate for
the depletion of cash the defendant engaged in various methods to obtain cash
for day-to-day operations including: instructing Credit Union employees,
members, and others to withdraw cash from an ATM using either a debit card she
provided or the individual’s personal debit card and return the cash to her for
Credit Union operating needs; (b) obtaining credit card cash advances from
members’ credit cards; (c) wire transferring funds to external accounts at
various other financial institutions and then obtaining cash from the transfer;
and (d) recording fictitious, unauthorized loans and using the proceeds of
these loans to issue an Official Check, which she directed individuals to cash
at local pawn shops or financial institutions and to return the cash proceeds
to her so that she could then place it in the Credit Union’s vault and teller
drawers.
As part of the scheme, Crowe created hundreds of fictitious,
unauthorized loans by generating fraudulent loan documents and agreements
between the Credit Union and unwitting Credit Union members in order to cover
up her theft of cash from the Credit Union’s vault and teller drawers and to
obtain funds owned by and under the custody and control of the Credit Union.
She also created additional fictitious, unauthorized loans to generate proceeds
that she used to make payments on legitimate loans that had outstanding
balances at the Credit Union, without the knowledge of the either the Credit
Union member in whose identity she was creating the fictitious loan, or the
member for whose benefit the loan payment was being made.
On or about September 15, 2016, Crowe created a fictitious,
unauthorized loan for $100,000 in the name of a member of the Credit Union
(“Member 1”) without the knowledge and consent of Member 1, collateralizing the
loan with a certificate of deposit owned by Member 1. She then deposited the loan proceeds, into an
account held by Member 1 at the Credit Union and, approximately fifteen days
later withdrew the entirety of the $100,000 loan proceeds from the account in
the form of cash. Crowe used the name, social security number, and date of
birth of Member 1 of the credit union, during and in relation to the fraud.
At sentencing, Crowe could receive a minimum term of
imprisonment of 24 months, a maximum term of imprisonment of 32 years, a
combined maximum fine of $1.25 million, followed by no more than 3 years of
supervised release. The defendant could also be ordered to pay restitution to
the National Credit Union Administration, as the liquidating agent for the
Louisville Metro Police Officer’s Credit Union.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States
Attorney Stephanie Zimdahl and is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment