One of the co-conspirators involved a business lending kickbackscheme that led to the collapse of AEA Federal Credit Union inYuma, Ariz., has been sentenced to 24 months in prison.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton recently handed down thesentence to Frank Ruiz, an Arizona real estate developer who paid William Liddle, an AEA business lending officer, more than $1million in bribes for the exchange of loan approvals. After servinghis sentence, Ruiz will receive three years of supervisedrelease.

Ruiz previously pled guilty to several counts of fraud fortestifying against Liddle. He is set to start serving his prisonsentence June 29 after a restitution hearing, according to theYuma Sun. Bolton said Ruiz should be held accountable for$4.75 million in losses AEA suffered.

While Ruiz played a role in AEA's financial woes, Bolton saidthe $231 million credit union also shoulders some of the blame.

“There was an unbelievable lack of control and financialaccountability at AEA,” Bolton said, the publication reported. “Thetrial made clear there was a lack of financial viability ofmillions of dollars in loans.” The NCUA placed AEA in conservatorship in December 2010.

Tom Martin, the interim CEO of AEA,disputed the amount of losses tied to Ruiz, saying that after thereal estate developer's assets are liquidated, there is stillnearly $19 million he borrowed that cannot be recovered, accordingto the publication.

Martin said AEA also continued to sustain losses of an estimated$50,000 to $75,000 a month in revenue from a facility that Ruizcontinued to operate until January, nearly a year after he pledguilty to his role in the loan scheme.

Liddle and his wife are scheduled to be sentenced May 21. Theyare also set to attend the same restitution hearing with Ruiz.