NEW YORK–A former New York City cop and member of the supervisory committee at Municipal Credit Union has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $400,000.
According to the Daily News, Joseph Guagliardo “wiped away tears” as he entered the guilty plea.
As CUToday.info reported earlier here, Guagliardo, as well as a state court judge—Sylvia Ash—who also served on Municipal CU’s board, were arrested on different charges by federal prosecutors that range from deleting text messages to help cover up misuse of funds, abuse of controlled substances, and, ironically, fraud related to anti-fraud security.
Guagliardo admitted to billing the credit union for bogus security services and for what was described as “outrageously overpriced online advertising” for an Italian-American non-profit that he controlled.
Trust ‘Betrayed’
“As he has now admitted, Joseph Guagliardo betrayed the trust of MCU’s members, who elected him to supervise and protect MCU, by abusing his position to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today’s plea is yet another step forward in this office’s efforts to fully investigate and prosecute those who abused positions of authority at MCU, a multibillion-dollar, non-profit, federally insured credit union, to enrich themselves and their families at the expense of its hard-working members," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement quoted by the Daily News.
According to the report, MCU paid Guagliardo’s security company, First In, $250,000 for bogus services protecting MCU ATMs. “Guagliardo falsely claimed in documents his employees were ex-law enforcement,” the Daily News reported. “In reality they had no qualifications for bogus ‘inspections’ of ATMs that were of little value, prosecutors said.”
Similarly, MCU paid Guagliardo $200,000 for advertising on what the Daily News described as the “amateurish” National Council of Columbia Associations in Civil Service website. The group is dedicated to promoting Italian-American culture.
“The website’s traffic did not warrant that payment,” Guagliardo admitted in Manhattan Federal Court, the Daily News reported.
Guagliardo, 62, faces a recommended sentence of more than two years for the scam.
Charges Against Judge
Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Sylvia Ash continues to face obstruction of justice charges for allegedly deleting various text messages and emails. Ash has pleaded not guilty.
Earlier, the credit union’s former CEO, Kam Wong, was sentenced to more than five years in prison for embezzling approximately $10 million. That embezzlement is unrelated to the charges against Guagliardo and Ash.