Remember when a Taupa Lithuanian felon won $1 million in thelottery … and then had to hand it over to the NCUA?

Remember when a CEO caught her credit union's janitors stealingmembers' personal informaton?

Remember when a credit union manager admitted to stealing nearly$2 million over 13 years by swiping cash out of the vault andstashing it in her purse?

Relive the Top 30 news stories of 2015 at CU Timesbelow.

30. Crooked Credit Union Adviser Gets 10 Years

To celebrate the opening of a new branch in May 2014, the $2billion Apple Federal Credit Union in Fairfax, Va., producedlife-size posters of its investment advisers, including IsmailElmas, with a caption that read, “Advice you can trust.”

By July, however, the credit union removed Elmas'poster andfired him after an audit revealed his fraud scheme that bilkedmillions of dollars from 20 AppleFCU members.

On March 20, U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga inAlexandria, Va., sentenced the 50-year-old Elmas to 10 and a halfyears in federal prison and two years of supervised release. Trengaalso ordered Elmas to pay $2.97 million inrestitution. Hepleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in October.

In addition to working as an investment advisor at Apple,Federal prosecutors also revealed Elmas worked as a financialadviser for the $443 million Naval Research Lab FCU in Alexandriaand for Raymond James Financial Services, where he also carried outhis scheme, according to federal prosecutors.

The story drew 2,665 readers.

29 – tie. Bankof America Pledges $10 Million to Credit Unions

Bank of America pledged $10 million to the NationalFederation of Community Development Credit Unions. NFCDCUCEO CathieMahon made the announcement at the CUNA Community CreditUnion and The Federation 2015 Annual Conferences in Phoenix onSept. 23.

The money will go to the National Federation's CommunityDevelopment Investment Program, which provides capital resources tomember CDCUs seeking funds to increase liquidity, boost net worth,mitigate risk and introduce innovative products. The CDI Programhas invested more than $100 million in CDCUs since its inception in1982, the National Federation said.

Credit unions were surprised to hear the news; it drew 2,697readers.

29 – tie. 7-ElevenBoots Cardtronics

Cardtronics, the nation's single largest independent ATMdeployer and part owner of the popular Allpoint fee-freeATM network, announced July 7 that 7-Eleven, its largest retailclient, would no longer host its ATMs past mid-2017.

Cardtronics and its partially owned subsidiary,Allpoint, established partner agreements with CU24 as well asthe Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, Maryland and DC CreditUnion Association and Delaware Credit Union League, along with theNew Jersey Credit Union League and Illinois Credit Union League,according to the network's website.

Seven Bank, the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven Inc.'s new ATMdeployer – the Los Angeles-based Financial Consulting and TradeInternational – reported in a release that FCTI would take over7-Eleven, Inc.'s ATM business because both FCTI and 7-Eleven, Inc.are owned by the same Japanese firm. The existing agreementbetween Cardtronics and 7-Eleven remains in effect untilmid-2017.

The following day, CO-OPFinancial Services told member credit unionsthat 7-Eleven Inc.'s decision to no longer hostCardtronic's ATMs past July 2017 would affect its currentarrangement with 7-Eleven Inc. to provide surcharge-free ATMlocations.

“It is CO-OP's intention to establish a formal relationship withthe new 7-Eleven ATM processor as soon as possible to begin theplanning process to provide credit union membersuninterrupted access to ATMs in these locations,” the paymentsCUSO wrote to client credit unions in an email dated July 8. “CO-OPwill also work to continue deposit taking and shared branchaccess.”

When news that credit union members could lose surcharge-freeaccess to 7-Eleven ATMs broke, 2,697 people read the story.

28. NCUAEliminating FTE Positions in 2016 Budget

NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz said during the agency's Oct.30 OpenForum the agency would eliminate some full time staffpositions in the 2016 operating budget. However, Matz alsosaid she expected the agency's overall operating budget to increaseeven if the agency cuts positions, because it will have to makecapital expenditures to update systems.

Matz said the agency began to update its systems five years ago,but then the downturn hit and the work had been postponed. Shepointed specifically to the agency's Automated IntegratedRegulatory Examination System as one that needed updating.

She was true to her word. The NCUAboard on Nov. 19 approved a 2016 operating budget that includeda 1.7% reduction in full-time equivalents. The 26 FTEs were allfield staff positions, and reduced through attrition, will save theNCUA $4.3 million in pay, benefits and travel, Matz said.

The reduction was primarily a direct result of the NCUAmodifying its state examination program to align with NationalSupervision Policy Manual requirements. The result will befewer NCUA examiners in state-chartered credit unions, theregulator said.

When the FTE reduction was announced, 2,722 readers clicked onthe story published on cutimes.com.

27. Credit Unions Score 11% Mortgage Market Share

Credit unions captured a record 11% of U.S. mortgageoriginations in the first three months of 2015, according to areport from the consumer data firm TransUnion.That represented a four percentage point increase from creditunions' previous first quarter record mortgage share of 7% in 2013,according to TransUnion.

The Chicago-based company revealed the data at its annual creditunion seminar in Las Vegas on Aug. 11.

TransUnion Director of Research and Consulting for FinancialServices NidhiVerma said the firm's research revealed two importantpoints relating to credit union mortgage data. First, credit unionssaw a smaller percentage drop in mortgage lending than otherlenders did when mortgage refinancing slowed, and second, creditunions rebounded more vigorously when purchase money lending pickedup.

Credit unions were excited to learn the news; 2,730 of them readthis story.

26. Credit Union Manager Swipes $1.9 Million FromVault

Kathryn Sue Simmerman, the former manager of the $16.3 millionShoreline FCU, admitted July 29 in U.S. District Court in GrandRapids, Mich., that she stole nearly $2 million over 13 years bytaking cash from the vault andconcealing it in her purse. Starting on Oct. 1, 2001, shebegan taking cash from the credit union's vault and then depositedsome of the funds in Shoreline accounts she controlled. She spentthe rest of the stolen money.

In a plea deal, Simmerman agreed to plead guiltyto embezzlement andstructuring transactions to evade reporting requirements. Thisstory drew 2,762 readers.

25. Marine Charged With Fraud at Navy Federal

A former U.S. Marine was accused of allegedly stealing $138,798from NavyFederal Credit Union accounts that belonged to his fellowMarines. An Illinois grand jury in Chicago handed down a10-count indictment July 16 against Leonard E. Parker Jr. of CalmutCity, Ill. He was charged with five counts of bank fraud, fourcounts of fraudulent claims and one count of fraud withidentification documents.

Dontreal S. Evans also was charged with three counts of bankfraud.

When stationed with the Combat Logistics Reginment-3 in Okinawa,Japan, in 2012, Parker worked as an assistant to the company clerkin his unit. That position gave him access to a 162-person roster,which listed personal information belonging to Marines, includingSocial Security numbers and DOBs, according to a federalinvestigator's affidavit.

Parker later told a Marine friend of his that the information hehad access to was “gold,” and that he was learning how to be anidentity thief and transfer money from accounts.

The story attracted 2,778 readers.

24. PredatoryLender Met Compliance Standards: ICUL

Sean Hession, president/CEO of the Illinois Credit Union League,said Feb. 11 the organization did not realize ContinentalFinance Co. LLC., a credit card issuer partner, was engaged inillegal practices that led to the issuance of a hefty CFPBfine.

According to a consent order published Feb. 4, ContinentalFinance lied to consumers about the card fees and whether securitydeposits made for some of the cards carried FDIC insurance. Thecompany also violated the Truth in Lending Act by requiringconsumers to pay more than 25% in fees during the account's firstyear. As a result, the CFPB fined Continental Finance $250,000and demanded it repay cardholders $2.67 million for itspractices.

Hession defended the league's decision to launch the card withContinental Finance, saying it was a genuine attempt to help theunderserved and underbanked consumers in Illinois escapefinancially predatory institutions. More than 2,800 credit unionprofessionals read the story.

23. Taupa Lithuanian Felon Forfeits $1M Lotto Ticket

An Ohio business owner who won $1 million after buying lotterytickets with money he stole from the TaupaLithuanian Credit Union was sentenced in U.S. DistrictCourt in Cleveland Monday to more than three years in federalprison.

U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin also ordered John Strunato pay restitution of $2.3 million, which he embezzled from thefailed Cleveland cooperative from 2002 to 2013. The formerrestaurant owner of Concord Township pleaded guilty in November toconspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, making falsestatements and money laundering.

The story drew 2,818 readers.

22. Credit Union Employees Plead Guilty to Theft

A former credit union CEO in Ohio and a former teller inMichigan pleaded guilty to charges that they stole tens ofthousands of dollars from their credit unions.

Jane Ann Dearth, 42, the former president/CEO of the $53 millionRiverview Credit Union in Belpre, Ohio, pleaded guilty Jan. 23 inWashington County Common Pleas Court to a felony theft charge,according to The Marietta Times. From April 2011to March 2014, Dearth wrote herself unauthorized mileage checks,submitted reimbursement requests for personal expenses, madeunauthorized charges to her credit union credit card andunauthorized payments to her husband, the newspaper reported.

Alysia M. Wright, 35, a former teller for the $101 millionCopoco Community Credit Union in Bay City, Mich., pleaded nocontest to embezzling $91,346 Jan. 22, according to Bay CountyCircuit Court records.

Copoco Community President/CEO Linda L. Doan said the theft wasdetected in May 2014 during an audit conducted by EVP CherylDietzel.

Doan confirmed local media reports that Wright carried out hertheft by taking money from her cash drawer. To make it look likeher money drawer was balanced, she wrote checks for the amountstolen and filed them as hold-over checks. Using checks she stolefrom relatives, Wright started this scheme in 2012.

More than 2,880 CU Times readers read this story.

21. Former Credit Union CEO Faces Prison Time

Wendy Wall, the former president/CEO of the defunct Pepsi ColaFederal Credit Union in Buena Park, Calif., was sentenced to 21months in federal prison Jan. 23 after she pleaded guilty to onecount of bankfraud.

U.S. District Court Judge James S. Selna in Santa Ana, Calif.,also ordered Wall to pay $480,273 in restitution to the NCUA. Hersentence included four years of supervised released afterprison.

For more than 10 years, Wall embezzled credit union funds byopening a nominee account at Pepsi Cola that was not affiliatedwith a member, according to court records. She then createdfictitious loans on the nominee account, drew money from theseloans and transferred the funds into accounts at the cooperative inher name or her husband's names.

The story drew 2,906 readers.

20. Self-Help Credit Unions Leave CUNA

In April, the $674 million Self-HelpCredit Union notified the Carolinas Credit Union League itwas disaffiliating from the league and leaving CUNA. Additionally,the $593 million Self-HelpFederal Credit Union said it would also cancel anassociational membership with the California and Nevada CreditUnion Leagues and would also disaffiliate from CUNA, according toSelf-Help President RandyChambers.

Chambers cited CUNA's national policy positions as thereason.

“The bankruptcy reform effort that culminated in the bankruptcybill in 2005,” Chambers said. “CUNA backed a bill that resulted infamilies having a harder time getting back on their feet after abankruptcy and that was not our position.”

He also pointed to another bankruptcy related fight, CUNA'sopposition to a 2009 proposal that would have allowed judicialmodifications of mortgage principals when millions of Americanfamilies faced losing their homes to foreclosure.

Finally, the association's current, ongoing, opposition to theCFPB also ran counter to Self-Help's positions.

“We all have to live within regulations and deal with theirimpacts, Self-Help included, and we definitely see the benefit ofworking with the agency to improve regulations, but the positionthat Congress should have the ability to approve CFPB's budgetinstead of it being an independent financial regulator like otherfinancial regulatory agencies, that's not our position,” hesaid.

The story was read by 3,091 CU Times readers.

19. MontaukCredit Union Conserved

On Sept. 18, the New York State Department of Financial Servicestook possession of the $178 million Montauk Credit Union in NewYork City and appointed the NCUA as conservator. Montauk, oneof the four New York cooperatives that serves the taxi medallionindustry, posted a net income loss of $2 million at the end of thesecond quarter of 2015, according to NCUA financial performancereports. When news of the conservatorship broke, 3,139 readersvisited CU Times.

In October, CU Times revealed as of June 30, 2015, fourNew York credit unions – Montauk, the $271 million LOMTOFCU, the $2.1 billion Melrose Credit Union and the$692 million Progressive Credit Union – collectively sold 1,442 member business loans totaling more than$814.5 million, according to the NCUA.

The NCUA's records did not reveal how many of the loanparticipations were for taxi medallion loans. However, theagency said a substantial portion of Montauk's 136 participatedbusiness loans, worth $90.5 million, involved taxi medallions.

18. Credit Union CEO Sweeps Janitors' Crimes

Karen Janoski, president/CEO of the $62 million GreaterPittsburgh Police Federal Credit Union, suspected that janitorswere doing more than cleaning the cooperative one recentmorning.

It's a good thing she listened to her instincts.

A police investigation found that custodians Bonnie Hendzel andMary Tumminello of Stowe, Pa., allegedly stole several items suchas soft drinks, office supplies and promotional clothing. Moreover,they also took signature cards and files that contained thepersonal information, including names, date of births, addresses,phone numbers and Social Security numbers, of 32 credit unionmembers, including police officers.

Credit unions were stunned to realize their cleaning servicesput them at risk for data fraud, and 3,195 of them read thestory.

17. Chick-fil-A Confirms Breach Investigation

Apparently many CU Times readers – and/or their members– used their debit cards at Chick-fil-A during last year's holidaybreak. When cybersecurity blogger Brian Krebs broke the news onJan. 1, nearly 3,300 readers wanted the details.

16.Scam Threatens 800 Million Apple Accounts

In November, a global phishing scam targeted hundreds ofmillions of Apple accounts. The email looked like an official Appleemail and included the Apple logo and headquarters address inCulpertino, Calif. This story drew 3,372 readers.

To read the Top 15 stories of 2015, click here.