Credit Union CEO From LI Charged With Embezzlement

A Long Island man, who was the CEO and president of the oldest credit union in New York, was charged with fraud, embezzlement and identity theft on Tuesday.

According to authorities, Kam Wong, 62, of Valley Stream, who ran the Municipal Credit Union of New York, was arrested Tuesday morning and arraigned later in the day. The credit union is also one of the oldest and largest in the country, with more than 425,000 members.

“As alleged, the CEO and president of New York’s oldest credit union abused his position of trust as a guardian of municipal, state and federal workers’ financial accounts to enrich himself," U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said. "Kam Wong allegedly stole money from the credit union’s earnings that were intended to reward the credit union’s members, not line Wong’s pockets."

According to Berman, from at least 2013 through January of this year, Wong embezzled and defrauded the credit union by submitting fake invoices for dental work that was never performed on him, and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in reimbursements.

Berman said that during the investigation, it was determined that Wong also received numerous other questionable payments, including millions of dollars in cash payments in lieu of a long-term disability insurance policy, and millions more to cover taxes for those payments. He was also allegedly reimbursed for repairs to a luxury car the credit union leased to him, which was already covered by insurance. There were cash withdrawals from credit union ATMs on the company business card that Wong alleged were to test the ATMs.

Prosecutors also say there were substantial educational, housing and living expenses to two of Wong's friend’s relatives, whom the credit union hired at his order to be interns; tens of thousands of dollars in annual cash advances, for which Wong provided no supporting documentation; and payments for 320 days of purportedly unused sick leave, in violation of Wong's contract and the credit union’s policies.

Prosecutors say that Wong usually deposited the money into an account he had with the credit union. Between July 2013 and January 2018, prosecutors say he withdrew about $1.9 million from ATMS with 2,500 transactions, or 1.5 transactions a day. From the same account, he also spent at least $3.55 million on lottery tickets, prosecutors say.

In January, when Wong learned about the investigation, prosecutors say he misled federal agents and the credit union board members to cover his tracts and justify the payments. He was placed on leave from the credit union on Feb. 22

Wong is charged with embezzlement from a federally insured credit union, bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, and the other charges have a max sentence of 30 years.

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