STRATEGIC PARTNERS
June 18, 2003
NEW YORK -- More than 100 members of the Municipal Credit Union were charged on June 18 with looting hundreds of thousands of dollars from ATMs after a computer failure caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center gave them virtually unlimited access to money, prosecutors said.
According to the New York Times, charges of grand larceny were filed against 118 credit union members, including city employees, health care workers and education workers, who are accused of stealing at least $5,000 each in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. Each could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
"While the city focused on recovery, these individuals tried to take advantage of the chaos," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference with District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau at Morgenthau's office.
The authorities said 74 suspects had been arrested and another 44 were being sought, according to the Times.
The June 18 arrests were the second round resulting from an investigation into more than 4,000 of the credit union's 300,000 members, who prosecutors say stole a total of $15 million in the weeks following 9/11.
In August, 93 members were charged with stealing $7,500 or more each. Those charges, Morgenthau said, have produced 86 convictions or guilty pleas. Those defendants had been ordered to pay about $600,000 in restitution; Morgenthau estimated that $200,000 of that might have been paid.
All of the defendants were given the chance to repay the money in installments without criminal charges but refused, Morgenthau said.
ATM withdrawals began almost immediately after the attack, when the credit union, which has its headquarters near ground zero, lost its computer link to the New York Cash Exchange, the network which processes its transactions. The network had no way to check accounts to ensure that there was sufficient funds to cover the withdrawals.
Believing that it was helping its members during a crisis, the credit union continued to allow withdrawals.
"Unfortunately, a lot of people took advantage of that situation," Morgenthau said at the news conference.
The Municipal Credit Union, whose membership includes city, state and federal government workers and employees of the health care industry, has $1 billion in assets. The computer link was not restored until November 2001.
One man, an employee of the city's Department of Finance, made 34 withdrawals for a total of $5,899, even though his highest balance in the months preceding the attack had been $7.33, according to the Times report.
Another defendant, a health care worker who is still being sought, is charged with stealing $7,336 by using his ATM card, which also functioned as a debit card, to withdraw cash and charge purchases at several stores.
