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Christopher Simmons, 40, of Chicago, will be sentenced in February after a jury found him guilty on three counts of financial institution fraud and one count of identity theft, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria said.
Over two days of testimony in U.S. District Court last month, prosecutors showed that Simmons committed his fraud with Ardeen Canterbury, who initially obtained a $49,900 loan from the $7.5 billion Citizens Equity First Credit Union in Peoria to purchase a 2016 Audi from Simmons in January 2020. But it turned out he didn't own the car and the information about the vehicle came from an eBay listing.
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After Simmons got the $49,900, he used a stolen Social Security number, a fake address and phony earnings statements to apply for car loans and credit cards at CEFCU.
But someone at CEFCU apparently became suspicious and alerted the Peoria County Sheriff's Department. So when Simmons went into one of the CEFCU branches to obtain a car loan, he was arrested.
Canterberry previously pleaded guilty to financial institution fraud and was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment and five years supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $49,900 in restitution to credit union, according to prosecutors.
Simmons remains in federal custody.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
