Gloria Hall, who was the Manager of Prairie View Credit Union (“PVCU’) for 20 years, has been indicted on charges of embezzlement. PVCU was founded in 1937 to serve the Prairie View A&M University and surrounding community.
The discovery of the alleged fraud resulted in the National Credit Union Administration liquidating PVCU (assets $3 million) and forcing a merger with Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union (assets $340 million) earlier this year.
Hall joined PVCU as a loan officer in 1988, but left in 1990 to work for the University. She returned in 2000 as manager of the credit union.
During her 20 years as manager, PVCU did not offer online banking and do not have an ATM. Hall single-handedly approved all loans and personally communicated with major account holders. She controlled access to all books and records and controlled the information provided to the PVCU Board of Directors.
From 2010 to August 2020, Hall utilized 34 member accounts, mostly belonging to elderly members, to carry out various fraudulent schemes. She allegedly created 58 false loans in the names of relatives and friends and transferred $791,000 from elderly credit union members to those relatives and friends. When loans were due, she would create more false loans to repay the amounts due. It’s not clear from the indictment how much of the $791,000 was lost.
Between November 2017 and September 2019, Hall also allegedly embezzled $211,563 from two elderly account holders and transferring the monies to other account holders. Between 2016 and 2020 she also allegedly withdrew $76,772 from account holders and used the money for her personal benefit.
The National Credit Union Administration estimated total losses to be $200,000.
Hall is charged with three counts of embezzlement by a credit union employee and one count of making false entries in the financial records of the credit union.
If convicted, Hall faces up to 30 years in prison and a possible $1 million maximum fine.