From Trusted Employee to Convicted Fraudster! Former Employee Faces Jail for Multi-million Dollar Credit Union Theft
After pleading guilty to participating in a scam that targeted members and stole $2 million from them, a former employee of a credit union was given a term of nearly three years in jail.
In the documents filed with the court, the credit union that was involved was not identified.
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As a result of his guilty plea to the charge of financial institution fraud, Jose Prado-Valero, who is 35 years old, was given a sentence of 33 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release by Chief United States District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, as stated by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. Additionally, as part of his sentence, Prado-Valero was required to pay restitution fees of $2,132,517.
Responsible for the Automated Clearinghouse Coordinator.
Prado-Valero was employed by the credit union as an automated clearing house coordinator between the years 2016 and 2019, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Among her tasks was the supervision of transactions that took place in and out of accounts that belonged to employees.
The United States Attorney stated that because of his role, he had access to individuals’ Social Security numbers as well as other vital information, such as their dates of birth, home locations, and telephone numbers.
Prado-Valero was approached by persons who were looking to initiate a plan to defraud the institution and take money from existing member accounts, according to a statement released by the investigators. At some point before February 14, 2019, the individuals approached Prado-Valero.
“Application of Trust in a Position”
“Prado-Valero used his position of trust at the credit union to access members’ account information and steal their money,” the United States Attorney stated. Prado-Valero had agreed to participate in the plan.
The court documents state that between February 14, 2019, and August 16, 2019, Prado-Valero and his collaborators were accused of carrying out a total of 34 distinct transfers from the accounts of members, which amounted to a total of $2,078,725 in total.
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Prado-Valero is said to have received compensation totaling more than one hundred thousand dollars during this period, as stated by the United States Attorney’s office.