California Woman Sentenced To 21 Months In Prison For Embezzling $480K From Credit Union

From the Orange County Register on 1/23/15:

A Lakewood woman who pleaded guilty to a protracted embezzlement scheme that resulted in the failure of a credit union was sentenced Friday to 21 months in federal prison.

Wendy Wall, 50, was sentenced by United States District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana.

In addition to the prison term, Selna ordered a four-year term of supervised release, which would include 12 months of home confinement and ordered Wall to pay $480,273 in restitution, the FBI said in a statement.

Wall pleaded guilty to bank fraud on Sept. 2, for engaging in the embezzlement scheme while employed at the Pepsi Cola Federal Credit Union.

Beginning in 1993 and continuing to February 2014, Wall was the manager and sole employee at the Pepsi Cola Federal Credit Union, a small financial institution in Orange County that served local Pepsi Bottling Company employees, according to the FBI.

While employed there, Wall operated an embezzlement scheme over a period of more than a decade by using her position to create fictitious bank accounts, the FBI said.

Wall withdrew funds against those accounts by creating fictitious loans and by writing checks using the accounts. Wall then deposited the misappropriated funds into bank accounts belonging to Wall or her family members, the FBI said.

The scheme was discovered following an audit by the National Credit Union Association, whose personnel contacted the FBI to investigate. Analysis indicates that the embezzlement scheme led to the eventual failure of the Pepsi Cola Federal Credit Union; however, members were indemnified against losses under an agreement with the National Credit Union Administration, the FBI said.  

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