Ex-Credit Union Manager (CBS Employees) Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud in $40 Million Embezzlement

[TexasTowelie]

Ex-Credit Union Manager Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud in $40 Million Embezzlement that Rendered Institution Insolvent


LOS ANGELES – The former manager of CBS Employees Federal Credit Union pleaded guilty today to one felony count of bank fraud for embezzling $40 million from his employer over the course of 20 years – spending the money on gambling; homes in California, Nevada and Mexico; and travel by private jet – in a scheme that ultimately led to the credit union becoming insolvent.

Edward Martin Rostohar, 62, of Studio City, entered his plea before United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 16, where Rostohar will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

According to his plea agreement, Rostohar used his position as a manager at the credit union, a federally insured financial institution, to make online payments from the credit union to himself or by forging the signature of another credit union employee on checks made payable to himself. Prior to his three decades of employment at the credit union, Rostohar was a trained accountant and an examiner at the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), a federal agency that regulates credit unions. During his approximately 20 years of embezzling from CBS Employees FCU, he used his senior position at the institution to falsify its records to hide his fraud and make credit union appear to be profitable despite it suffering more than $40 million in losses as a direct result of his scheme, the plea agreement states.

Rostohar sometimes disguised his unauthorized payments, and hid the proceeds of the fraud, by directing the stolen funds to shell companies he controlled, court papers state. Rostohar also admitted to submitting credit union checks to make personal credit card payments.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/ex-credit-union-manager-pleads-guilty-bank-fraud-40-million-embezzlement-rendered

Earlier thread:
Credit Union Manager Who Allegedly Embezzled $40 Million from His Employer Faces Bank Fraud, Identity Theft Charges
https://www.democraticunderground.com/104020927