A whistleblower lawsuit filed Feb. 27 in New York District Court claims a former CEO of the $145 million Ukrainian National FCU suffered discrimination and retaliation so severe it caused her to suffer a heart attack and default on her mortgage loan.

Plaintiff Christine Balko claims in the suit that the New York-based credit union's board – in particular, long-time volunteer Vsevolod Salenko – objected to her reporting of federal regulatory violations to the NCUA and retaliated against her.

The rift allegedly began with Balko reporting board election bylaw and protocol violations, the purchase of prohibited investments and the misappropriation of funds by a branch manager in May 2009, according to court documents. Those documents charge that report triggered an NCUA audit that revealed an inadequate governance model, lowered the credit union's CAMEL rating to a 4, earned it the troubled condition label and produced a Letter of Understanding from the regulator to correct findings.