Former Minnesota credit union CEO charged with $2.5 million fraud
Margurite Mary Cofell’s alleged embezzlement led to the cooperative’s financial collapse in 2014.
More than five years after the financial collapse of a Minnesota credit union, its former president/CEO will appear in federal court to face allegations that she stole at least $2.5 million.
Margurite Mary Cofell will be arraigned on a credit union fraud felony charge in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on March 28.
The FBI launched its investigation in January 2014, about three weeks before the Minnesota Department of Commerce closed the $51 million St. Francis Campus Credit Union in Little Falls on Feb. 14 and appointed the NCUA receiver and liquidating agent.
However, the fraud was not publicly exposed until January 2016 when the NCUA sued CUMIS over its controversial decision not to pay the federal agency’s fidelity bond claim. The NCUA filed a proof of loss with CUMIS for $3,086,755. CUMIS rescinded the fidelity bond agreement because Cofell lied on its application to extend the employee dishonesty coverage from $2.25 million to $2.75 million in April 2013. This lawsuit is pending in federal court.
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