Prison sentence for former credit union executive. (Source: Shutterstock)
A federal judge sentenced former chief operating officer Suzanne Silva to 18 months in prison for stealing from a New York credit union hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for Caribbean cruises and monthly Amazon purchases.
U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley in Central Islip, N.Y. also ordered Silva, 35, of Carle Place, to pay $465,172 in restitution, the amount she stole from the $30.6 million Winthrop University Employees Federal Credit Union in Mineola.
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Between March 2011 and June 2018, Silva transferred the stolen money from WUEFCU's operating accounts to accounts in her name and in the names of family members, according to court documents.
She was fired in June 2018 and indicted four months later. Silva pleaded guilty in March 2019 to one count of embezzlement.
Federal prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York did not say how Silva managed to conceal her theft for six and half years. They did not file a memorandum that prosecutors use to recommend a sentence to the court based on federal guidelines and other circumstances surrounding the case that explain how an embezzler hides the crime for years.
Although Silva filed a memorandum and character letters with the court, they were sealed from public inspection. She joined the credit union in 2002, became a supervisor in July 2011 and was promoted to COO in February 2017.
At the end of 2018, the credit union posted a net income loss of $1.7 million while its membership fell from 4,176 in June 2018 to 3,673 in June 2019, according the WUEFCU's financial performance reports and Call Reports filed with the NCUA.
At the end of the first and second quarter of this year, however, WUEFCU recorded net income gains of $81,423 and $105,571, respectively, according to NCUA financial performance reports. The credit union posted a well-capitalized ratio of 7.80% at the end of June 2019, which is down from 11.94% in June 2018.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
