An Ohio business owner who won $1 million after buying lottery tickets with money he stole from the Taupa Lithuanian Credit Union was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Cleveland Monday to more than three years in federal prison.

U.S. District Court Judge James S. Gwin also ordered John Struna to pay restitution of $2.3 million, which he embezzled from the failed Cleveland cooperative from 2002 to 2013. The former restaurant owner of Concord Township pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, making false statements and money laundering.

What started as a legitimate overdraft line of credit to cover his short-term cash flow shortages, snowballed over time into Struna withdrawing more than $2 million for personal and business expenses with no discussion with the credit union on how those funds would be paid back, according to court documents.

“These expenses included, among other things, Mr. Struna's expenditures on lottery tickets, which he believed would help him repay most if not all of the funds he had borrowed from Taupa,” Struna's lawyer, Richard H. Blake, wrote in a sentencing memo to Gwin. “Mr. Struna did in fact win the Ohio lottery on two occasions, one time winning one million dollars.”

However, Blake never received the majority of that million, due to related litigation and attorney fees.

Blake said Struna had a long-term relationship with Alex R. Spirikaitis, the former president/CEO of Taupa Lithuanian CU. He was the central figure of the multi-million fraud scheme and was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison in December 2014.

Spirikaitis facilitated the theft by enabling co-conspirators such as Struna and four other individuals to steal $15 million from a credit union that had only $23.6 million in assets. The NCUA and the Ohio Department of Commerce took possession of Taupa Lithuanian in July 2013 and placed it into receivership because of insolvency. The Cleveland cooperative served about 1,150 members.

“For better or worse, Mr. Struna believed Mr. Spirikaitis was authorized to advance funds on behalf of the credit union and Mr. Struna took full advantage of his relationship with the institution,” Blake wrote. “At some point in time, Taupa stopped sending statements to Mr. Struna and Mr. Struna took no steps to establish a payment plan or even confirm how much he actually owed to the credit union.”

Struna forfeited the restaurant, a Florida condominium and a 2014 Mazda because they were purchased with money he stole from the credit union, according to court documents.

Also sentenced to federal prison was Vytas Apanavicius of Mentor, Ohio who worked as a contract bookkeeper for Taupa CU and stole nearly $1 million from it. He was sentenced to 21 months in November 2014. And in February 2014, former teller Michael Ruksenas was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison for stealing more than $481,000 from the credit union.

On March 13, Gary Chaney of Streetsboro, and Patrick Bruckman of Chester Township, both Cleveland suburbs, are scheduled to be sentenced on one count of conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement from a credit union. They used their personal and corporate accounts at the cooperative to embezzle nearly $1.9 million from Taupa CU, according to court documents.

Instant Insights /

Taupa Lithuanian Felon Forfeits $1M Lotto Ticket

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