SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Carol Aranjo was convicted on 42 criminal counts including embezzlement of $1.5 million, bank fraud and filing false tax returns, according to The Republican, a local newspaper that covered the trial extensively. She was acquitted on three counts.
D. Edward Wells Federal Credit Union was a community CU chartered in 1959 to serve the poor and bring mainline financial services to an underserved market. Strident leadership marked Aranjo's control of the CDCU and she also served as chairwoman of the National Federation of CDCUs, which offered a national pulpit for her accusations against the federal regulator, NCUA. The agency took control of Wells in 2003 and it has since been liquidated.
"Witnesses told jurors that Aranjo essentially ran the agency into the ground through outright theft, shuffling of members' funds, bogus loans, and other methods," wrote reporter Stephanie Barry.
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Aranjo's husband Alphonso Smith, was convicted of 10 similar charges and acquitted of three. Aranjo, 67, and Smith, 68, face up to 14 years and four years in federal prison, respectively, at their sentencing hearings on June 19.
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