Gezim Selgjekaj Sentenced for Credit Union Fraud

<h2>Avon Lake man sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud that contributed to the collapse of credit union<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>An Avon Lake man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraudulently obtaining more than &dollar;10&period;6 million in loan proceeds&comma; bribing the chief operating officer of the credit union to receive those loans&comma; and laundering the proceeds&comma; conduct which contributed to the collapse of the St&period; Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union&comma; law enforcement officials said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Gezim Selgjekaj&comma; 44&comma; was ordered to pay &dollar;16 million in restitution&period; A jury earlier this year found him guilty of one count of conspiracy&comma; 15 counts of <strong>financial institution fraud<&sol;strong>&comma; five counts of <strong>bribery<&sol;strong> and six counts of <strong>money laundering<&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Selgjekaj received more than &dollar;10&period;6 million in fraudulent <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;category&sol;loans&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"loan" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"206">loan<&sol;a> proceeds from the credit union between 2003 and 2010&period; Selgjekaj obtained the <em>fraudulent loan<&sol;em> proceeds using personal loan accounts&comma; loan accounts he created in business names&comma; including businesses that had previously ceased to exist or never existed at all&comma; and loan accounts he created in the names of friends and family members who were unaware of Selgjekaj’s conduct&comma; according to trial testimony and court documents&period;  Notably&comma; between 2004 and 2008&comma; Selgjekaj was incarcerated in a federal correctional institution on unrelated criminal charges&period;  According to court records and trial testimony&comma; Selgjekaj controlled others who went to the credit union and obtained loans on his behalf during his incarceration&period;  Some of the loan proceeds were then deposited into his prison account&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also during this time&comma; and in order to obtain the loan proceeds after defaulting on previously obtained loans and being incarcerated&comma; Selgjekaj provided more than approximately &dollar;200&comma;000 in cash and check bribes to Anthony Raguz&comma; the credit union’s then-chief operating officer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Most of those loans were never repaid&comma; causing a loss to the credit union&comma; according to trial testimony and court documents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This defendant is the latest in a line of people who abused the trust of a credit union members and an entire community&comma;” said Steven M&period; Dettelbach&comma; U&period;S&period; Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This defendant contributed to the pain&comma; stress and hardship of thousands of families&comma; and will not be held accountable for his crimes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This sentence should send a message to those who would steal from others&comma;” said Stephen D&period; Anthony&comma; Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Office&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Gezim Selgjekaj and his co-conspirators built a house of cards laced with a web of <strong><a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;amp&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"561">financial<&sol;a> lies<&sol;strong>&period; The underlying structure fell apart and exposed these individuals for what they really are &&num;8211&semi;thieves&comma;” said Guy A&period; Ficco&comma; Acting Special Agent in Charge&comma; IRS Criminal Investigation&comma; Cincinnati Field Office&period;  &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Combining the financial investigative expertise of the IRS with the skills and resources of the FBI and the U&period;S&period; Attorney’s Office makes a formidable team for combating major&comma; greed-driven crimes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Selgjekaj is the latest of more than two dozen people convicted of crimes related to the collapse of St&period; Paul Croatian Federal Credit Union&period; The credit union was closed and then liquidated in 2010 after sustaining approximately &dollar;170 million in total losses&comma;with approximately &dollar;72&period;5 million of those losses tied to individual <strong>criminal fraud schemes<&sol;strong>&comma; making it the largest credit union failure in American history&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A subsequent investigation and prosecutions revealed that more than two dozen people received <em>fraudulent loans<&sol;em>&comma; some totaling millions of dollars&comma; that were never repaid in exchange for cash bribes and other kickbacks to Raguz&period; Trial testimony revealed that Raguz received the most number of and the largest total amount of bribes from Selgjekaj&period; Raguz is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U&period;S&period; AttorneysBridget M&period; Brennan and Robert W&period; Kern following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-ndoh&sol;pr&sol;avon-lake-man-sentenced-25-years-prison-fraud-contributed-collapse-credit-union">Original PressReleases &&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Credit Union FraudFinancial FraudMoney Laundering