The president of the former Telco Federal Credit Union wassentenced to time served for a 2008 scheme that involved falsifyingrecords to cover up delinquent loans, according to the U. S.Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York.

Donna Harabin, 61, of Clearwater, Fla., pleaded guilty in September to bank fraud charges that carrieda maximum term of 30 years and $1 million in fines. She wassentenced Dec. 11.

She was convicted of making false credit institution entriesbetween January 2008 and December 2008 while serving as presidentand manager of the $20 million Telco FCU in of Elmira, NY.

Unlike most of the recent fraud cases committed by other credit union executives,Harabin's crime does not appear to have been for personal financialgain, according to court documents.

Harabin admitted that she changed the due dates and enteredfalse payments to conceal from examiners the fact that 75% of thecredit union's 179 loans were delinquent, and she changed the datesof delinquency on loans she knew were going to be foreclosed uponor repossessed in order to make them appear more current, accordingto Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany H. Lee, who handled thecase.

The scheme was discovered in 2008 during a FBIinvestigation. Telco FCU merged in 2009 with the $1.2 billionEmpower Federal Credit Union in Syracuse.