A Carmel man has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to financial institution fraud. He must also pay $2,132,517 in restitution.

According to court documents, from 2016 through August of 2019, Jose Prado-Valero, 35, served as the automated clearing house coordinator at a credit union beginning in 2019. His duties included posting and coordinating transactions into and out of the accounts of credit union members, which gave him access to members’ personally identifiable information, including Social Security numbers, date of birth, home address and telephone numbers. Prado-Valero also had access to members’ account numbers and account balances.

Sometime prior to February 14, 2019, Prado-Valero was approached by individuals not employed by the credit union who sought his assistance in conducting a scheme to defraud the financial institution and steal money held in member accounts. The co-conspirators promised to pay Prado-Valero a portion of the fraud proceeds if he stole members’ identity and account information.

Prado-Valero agreed to join the scheme and used his position of trust at the credit union to access members’ account information and steal their money. Between Feb. 14 and Aug. 16, 2019, Prado-Valero and his accomplices made 34 fraudulent transfers to themselves out of credit union members’ accounts, in the aggregate amount of $2,078,725. Prado-Valero was paid more than $100,000 by his co-conspirators for his role in the scheme.

The FBI investigated the case. The sentence was imposed by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.

Source: U.S. Department. of Justice