Broken Arrow woman sentenced for bank fraud, tax evasion

A former manager of a credit union was sentenced on Tuesday for bank fraud and tax evasion, announced U.S. Attorney Danny C. Williams, Sr. for the Northern District of Oklahoma and R. Damon Rowe, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge, Dallas Field Office.

Eva Barroso, 54, Broken Arrow, was sentenced to serve 27 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Chief Judge Gregory K Frizzell for one count each of bank fraud and tax evasion. At the time of the scheme, Barroso worked as a commercial services manager for Oklahoma Central Credit Union (OCCU) where her duties included marketing and servicing commercial loans. The Court entered a criminal forfeiture money judgment against the defendant in the amount of $238,177.42 representing proceeds obtained as a result of her bank fraud scheme.

Barroso was also ordered to make restitution in the amount of $238,177.42 to OCCU and $57,360.50 to the Internal Revenue Service. According to court documents, from July 2, 2009, to March 19, 2012, as part of the scheme, Barroso fabricated at least three false loans in the name of nominee entities and individuals

without the knowledge and authorization of the purported borrower. Barroso admitted that she made various material false representations in obtaining these loans. She used the proceeds of these loans for her own personal benefit, including making ATM withdrawals at various casinos.

To further the scheme, Barroso used some of the money to make payments on prior loans. In addition, during the 2010 calendar year, Barroso willfully evaded a large part of income tax by failing to report to the Internal Revenue Service a total of $152,098.13, which was the money she fraudulently obtained from the scheme.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS-Criminal

Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey Gallant and

Catherine Depew on behalf of the United States.