Former CU CEO & teller plead guilty to $1 million embezzlement scam

A former credit union president/CEO and a former employee admitted they embezzled more than $1 million that led to the closure of a Hawaiian credit union and a loss of more than $2 million to NCUA’s insurance fund.

Allennie Naeole, the former president/CEO of the $3.1 million First Hawaiian Homes Federal Credit Union in Hoolehua, on the island of Molokai, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds and aggravated identity theft, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu in February. Janell Purdy, who worked as a customer service representative and teller, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to embezzle credit union funds.

Their sentencing hearings have not been scheduled.

Naeole and Purdy siphoned funds from the credit union over nine years.

They wrote checks from the credit union’s financial accounts to pay for the personal expenses of Naeole and her family members, according to court documents. They withdrew and spent more money from personal credit union accounts in their names and in the names of family members than was available in deposits, which created negative balances.

 

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