Two former credit union employees – one of whom reportedly pleaded guilty to counts of bank fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement – were barred from any future service in a federally insured financial institution in June by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
The NCUA also reported issuing a credit union a cease-and-desist order that requires improvements in Bank Secrecy Act compliance and other matters.
All three orders were consent orders, the agency noted.
The prohibitions orders were for the following:
- Carolin Lopez, a former employee of 1st Bergen Federal Credit Union, Hackensack, N.J., who the agency said had misappropriated member funds totaling about $32,130 through various means, including posting fictitious check deposits to her own account and using other employees’ credentials to reverse or waive fees that had been assessed on her own account.
- Stephanie Simontacchi, a former employee of Redwood Credit Union, Santa Rosa, Calif., who, from about April 2016 to April 2019 in her positions as the credit union’s senior accountant and accounting manager, deposited checks intended for RCU into her personal bank and credit card accounts held outside of RCU, created fictitious journal entries and support documents, and falsified the credit union’s general ledger account. Her actions caused the credit union to suffer a loss of about $437,000, the agency said. The order notes that Simontacchi was indicted last June in the Eastern District of California on 19 felony accounts of embezzlement, bank fraud, and tax evasion, plus forfeiture allegations; and that she pleaded guilty this February to one felony count each of bank fraud, misapplication and embezzlement, and tax evasion.
Under the cease-and-desist order, Inter-American Federal Credit Union, Brooklyn, N.Y., consented to terms and conditions to addressing numerous supervisory concerns related to BSA compliance; account review and reconciliation; supervisory committee audit; and dormant accounts. The agency said this order supersedes and replaces a consent cease-and-desist order signed March 12, 2020.