More than a year after she was found guilty of defrauding customers and embezzling from Springfield’s D. Edward Wells Federal Credit Union, former CEO Carol Aranjo has been officially banned from the financial industry.
The National Credit Union Administration issued the formal order this week. In its report, it noted that Aranjo had been convicted of a host of charges, sentenced to 54 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution.
The case shook up the credit union industry in Massachusetts, as witnesses accused Aranjo and her husband of taking more than $1 million from the institution, which was founded as a community development institution to serve the poor.
The credit union was placed into conservatorship in 2003, and Aranjo was convicted of 42 criminal counts including the embezzlement of $1.5 million. Her husband, Alphonso Smith, was convicted of 10 similar charges.
