Two former employees of the credit union that serves TheBus workers face up to 30 years in prison each after pleading guilty Tuesday to embezzlement.
Former teller Jenny Nishida, 41, of Pearl City admitted to U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway that she used the credit union’s Visa system to make 122 false payments totaling $358,685 to credit card accounts belonging to her and her family members between 2009 and 2011.
Former loan officer Nicole Cheung, 34, of Honolulu admitted she made 54 false payments totaling $16,732 for Visa card accounts in her and her family members’ names.
Nishida and Cheung, who were employees of Oahu Transit Services Employees Federal Credit Union, were both released on $25,000 bail.
Mollway scheduled Cheung’s sentencing for Aug. 25 and Nishida’s for Sept. 8. Both face to up 30 years in prison, $1 million in fines, and restitution and forfeiture.
The embezzlement was discovered in 2012 during an audit of the credit union. Last month the Honolulu FBI office identified three workers involved in the embezzlement after a seven-month investigation.
The third worker, Dona Takushi, 54, of Honolulu, a former manager at the credit union, pleaded guilty in federal court May 5 to one count of embezzlement and two counts of making false entries.
She admitted to falsely entering six payments totaling $40,970 on her and a family member’s Visa card accounts and falsely recording an $18,251 charge-off on a car loan for a 2008 Subaru Forester that the borrower had turned in because he could not make the loan payments. Takushi transferred the title to herself and a family member.
She also pleaded guilty to making 153 false entries into the books to advance due dates on her, her family members’ and an associate’s loan accounts. The false entries allowed her and her associate to get additional loans for a total of more than $55,000.
Takushi faces up to 30 years in prison for each count at sentencing in August.
FBISpecial Agent Tom Simon said the credit union was insured by theNational Credit Union Administration Boardfor the loss.
He said new management at the credit union is implementing controls to "ensure this never happens again."
