Carmel man sentenced for stealing $2 million from credit union members

A former credit union employee from Carmel has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison for coordinating fraudulent transfers totaling over $2 million from members' accounts in 2019.

Jose Prado-Valero, 35, will serve 33 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to financial institution fraud. He will then serve two years of probation.

Prado-Valero was responsible for organizing and posting transactions to members' accounts. His position granted him access to Social Security numbers, account numbers and balances, among other information.

According to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Indiana, a group of individuals hoping to steal from members' accounts approached Prado-Valero and asked for his assistance in exchange for a share of the money. Between Feb. 14, 2019, and Aug. 16, 2019, Prado-Valero and the group orchestrated 34 fraudulent transfers, which amounted to over $2 million. He was paid $100,000 for his part.

In a statement released Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, Zachary Myers, said that this case of fraud betrayed the confidence of credit union members.

“Account holders and financial institutions depend on people in positions of trust to keep their information and money safe,” Myers said. “This corrupt employee facilitated the theft of millions of customer dollars to satisfy his own greed.”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Credit union employee from Carmel sentenced for $2 million fraud scheme