A former credit union office manager will be sentenced in December after she admitted to embezzling nearly $180,000 from a failed New York credit union.
Norma Gold, 57, of Eldred, Pa., pleaded guilty to false entries in federal credit union reports, last week in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.
Between December 2007, and December 2012, the former officer manager of the $778,129 Olean Tile Employees Federal Credit Union in in Olean, N.Y., embezzled funds and made false entries in the general ledger and altered financial statements, making it appear that the credit union’s account balances were larger than they actually were, according to federal prosecutors.
In order to conceal her theft, Gold altered the true balances of the credit union’s accounts maintained by outside banks and financial institutions, which held the vast majority of the OTEFCU’s funds. Because of the embezzlement, the credit union suffered a total loss of $179,939.
In December 2012, the NCUA closed the credit union. The manufacturing plant, which housed the credit union’s office, also ceased operations at that time.
Gold, who was a 26-year employee of the credit union, faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine, federal prosecutors said.
