PHILADELPHIA – The former CEO of a credit union management company, whose actions have been blamed for the failure of six credit unions, has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution as the result of an embezzlement.
Joan Brown, 80, of Bristol, Penn. was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $1,016,900 in restitution by United States District Judge Joshua Wolson for her scheme to embezzle credit union funds for which she provided management services through a company which she co-founded.
According to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier, in September 2020, Brown pleaded guilty to six counts of embezzlement of credit union funds and 11 counts of making false entries in credit union records arising from her embezzlement of more than $1 million over several years from six small credit unions. Brown is the former CEO of the Bensalem-based Service Center for Credit Unions, and in that position was well-known in the credit union community in the Philadelphia area, prosecutors said.
‘Face of Credit Unions’
Court documents said that in the past Brown had been described as “the face of credit unions in Philadelphia,” and that as a result of her actions, six small credit unions failed and were liquidated NCUA.
The six small CUs included Chester Upland School Employees FCU, Cardozo Lodge FCU, Electrical Inspectors FCU, O P S EMP FCU, Servco FCI, and Triangle Interests Service Center FCU.
“Credit unions, by their nature, are cooperative institutions which rely on the support of everyone involved to function and remain safe places to save and borrow money,” said Williams. “In her position as the CEO of a credit union management company, Brown destroyed six such credit unions with her greed and dishonesty. Our office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that anyone who commits this type of fraud will be held accountable for their actions.”
‘Taking Advantage of Trust’
“The credit unions contracting with SCCU depended on the company to ably manage their financial matters,” added Michael J. Driscoll, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Joan Brown took full advantage of that trust, dipping into accounts and stealing money for herself, over and over again, for years. Her criminal actions caused the insolvency and shutdown of six local financial institutions. Brown is finally being held accountable for this extensive and clear-cut fraud.”