Former Credit Union Employee Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Federal Prison for Scheme that Stole Over $2 Million

The co-conspirators promised to pay Prado-Valero a portion of the fraud proceeds if he stole members’ identity and account information.

INDIANAPOLIS – Jose Prado-Valero, 35, of Carmel 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 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 February 14, 2019, and August 16, 2019, Prado-Valero and accomplices successfully made 34 fraudulent transfers to themselves out of credit union members’ accounts, in the aggregate amount of $2,078,725. Prado-Valero was paid over $100,000 by his co-conspirators for his role in the scheme.

“Account holders and financial institutions depend on people in positions of trust to keep their information and money safe,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “This corrupt employee facilitated the theft of millions of customer dollars to satisfy his own greed. The serious federal prison sentence imposed demonstrates that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are watching, and those who abuse positions of trust to line their pockets at the expense of others will be held accountable.”

“Prado-Valero was entrusted with a great deal of responsibility over the hard-earned money of the credit union’s members. Instead of using his authority and access to protect the accounts of these customers, he sold his access to a criminal conspiracy so he could enrich himself,” said Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office. “I commend the investigative team for their expert, detailed work in this case, which resulted in this defendant being held accountable for his crimes.”

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

U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted this case.