22 years ago: August 6, 2002
New York City prosecutors report $15 million was looted from city's Municipal Credit Union when computer failure caused by collapse of World Trade Center allowed virtually unlimited access to money in automated teller machines; Dist Atty Robert Morgenthau says 66 people who withdrew $7,500 or...
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Credit Union Says A.T.M. Users Stole Millions After 9/11
Fifteen million dollars was looted from the Municipal Credit Union in New York City by its own members -- including city employees, health care professionals and education workers -- when a computer failure caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center allowed virtually unlimited access to money in automated teller machines, prosecutors said yesterday.
Sixty-six people who withdrew $7,500 or more beyond what was in their accounts have been arrested and face felony charges of grand larceny, and 35 are being sought for arrest, Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, said yesterday. In all, he said, roughly 4,000 people are being investigated.
A frenzy of wrongful withdrawals began almost immediately after the terrorist attacks, when the credit union, which has headquarters on Cortlandt Street across from ground zero, lost its computer link to the New York Cash Exchange, a network of automated teller machines. The network, which is the largest in the Northeast and processes A.T.M. transactions, had no way to check the credit union accounts to ensure that there were sufficient funds to cover withdrawals.
The credit union said that, rather than shut down its entire A.T.M. operation, and believing that it was helping its 300,000 members during a traumatic time, it continued to allow withdrawals, without knowing whether those making the withdrawals had the money in their accounts to cover them.
''We did this at a time of crisis in the city because many of our members are firemen, policemen, and we felt at the time it was a necessary step for us to take to help settle down the city,'' said Thomas Siciliano, the general counsel of the Municipal Credit Union. ''We did not realize on the first day that there would be this kind of loss.''
Details of the first arrests in the case were reported yesterday in The New York Post.
The Municipal Credit Union, whose membership includes city, state and federal government workers and employees of the health care industry, among others, functions as a full-service, nonprofit financial institution. It has $1 billion in assets. Officials said they recognized the computer problem immediately, but could not fully restore the link until November.
All 4,000 credit union members being investigated overdrew their accounts by at least $1,000, said Dan Castleman, the chief of investigations in the district attorney's office. Those who were arrested did not take advantage of opportunities to pay the money back. If convicted, credit union members who overdrew their accounts could face up to seven years in prison.
Mr. Morgenthau said the fraud showed that ''no good deed goes unpunished.''
''It's discouraging to think that people would take advantage of the good will of the Municipal Credit Union,'' said Mr. Morgenthau, who is looking into all sorts of fraud related to Sept. 11 and its aftermath.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who joined Mr. Morgenthau in announcing the investigation and arrests, said that ''people tried to profit from the confusion. They made a calculated decision to take money that was not theirs, and for a while, they got away with it.''
Officials said that more than 540 Municipal Credit Union members made A.T.M. withdrawals that exceeded their account balances by at least $5,000 in the weeks after Sept. 11. More than 1,700 overdrew their accounts by at least $3,000, prosecutors said.
One man, an employee of the Housing Authority, never had an end-of-the-month balance that exceeded $130, prosecutors said. ''Nevertheless, he made 53 A.T.M. withdrawals ranging from $20 to $300 each, and charged 101 Visa purchases using his M.C.U. A.T.M. card between September 19th and October 22nd,'' according to Mr. Morgenthau's press release.
It continued: ''The purchases were at stores including Foot Locker, Jimmy Jazz, Joy Joy Jewelry, Bronx BBQ, Hot Booz Liquor and the 216th Street motel.''
Mr. Morgenthau said word of the glitch allowing the withdrawals was probably spread among friends in the various unions.
The man's account balance was a negative $10,378 by the end of October, prosecutors said.
Even though the credit union's computers were cut off from the New York Cash Exchange until early November, both organizations were able to keep track of how much money was withdrawn and from which accounts, officials said.
''There were a lot of ways to trace it,'' Mr. Siciliano said.
And so they did.
In November, the Municipal Credit Union mailed notices to all of the members who had overdrawn their accounts. The credit union listed what was missing and demanded repayment. The names of those who ignored the letters were turned over to a collection agency. People who responded were offered the opportunity to convert their negative balances into loans with deferred payment schedules, officials said.
Those who were arrested or being sought for arrest last night made little or no effort to repay the missing money, said Mr. Castleman said.
Mr. Siciliano said he believed that a lot of the withdrawals were honest mistakes and said that a ''good percentage'' of members had agreed to repay what was overdrawn. He said the $15 million theft does not affect the finances of the other members, or the financial health of the credit union.
But law enforcement officials said they hoped the arrests would send a message.
Commissioner Kelly called it an ''important lesson'' and said, ''Anyone who thinks they can profit from the World Trade Center aftermath is sorely mistaken.''