A June jury trial is set for Nita Rae Nirschl a former president/CEO who was charged with embezzling more than $5 million from $13.3 million Parsons Pittsburg Credit Union that led to its insolvency.
During an April 12 hearing in U.S. District Court in Wichita, Kan., the 64-year-old former executive was arraigned on an 81-count indictment including 22 counts of embezzlement, 37 counts of money laundering, 18 counts of interstate transportation of stolen property and four counts of attempting to evade taxes.
Nirschl did not enter a plea, according to court documents. Her trial is scheduled for June 20.
Federal prosecutors charged that she embezzled more than $5 million from the credit union over four years.
The indictment alleged Nirschl deposited stolen funds into her personal accounts. She also allegedly withdrew the funds from ATMs at casinos at Missouri, Oklahoma, New Orleans and Lake Tahoe.
Nirschl admitted that she and her husband wagered millions at casinos and typically broke even, but she denied gambling using credit union funds when questioned by examiners during an audit in January 2014. The credit union was merged into the $590 million Golden Plains Credit Union in Garden City, Kan.
In separate fraud cases, Christine Darley, who allegedly embezzled more than $535,000 from the merged $3 million Panhandle Cooperative Federal Credit Union in Scottsbluff, Neb., pleaded not guilty last month in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. Additionally, James Roy Entzminger, a former teller for the $57 million Banner Federal Credit Union in Phoenix, pleaded not guilty to embezzlement, fraud and aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court in Phoenix on April 12.
Darley, the former president/CEO of PCFCU allegedly withdrew funds that were under the control of the credit union and deposited the money into personal accounts that she controlled at the credit union or at First State Bank in Scottsbluff. She also obtained loans and loan advances from PCFCU without the consent or knowledge of the board of directors, according to court documents.
After determining PCFCU was in poor financial condition, the NCUA approved the credit union’s consolidation last year with the $338 million Meridian Trust Credit Union in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Darley’s jury trial is scheduled for May 8, according to court records.
Entzminger allegedly stole $526,999 starting in December 2009 through January 2014 from about a dozen individual and joint member accounts that had infrequent transactions.
The former teller allegedly removed funds from accounts via cash withdrawals, issued unauthorized official checks from members’ accounts, forged their signatures and cashed the money out of his teller drawer, according to the indictment. He also allegedly posted fictitious deposits to member accounts and modified members’ account settings to change their home address to a fake home address to prevent members from receiving account statements.
Entzminger’s jury trial is scheduled for June 13, according to court documents.
