Ex-CEO of Roanoke Valley credit union gets 10 months in prison for embezzlement (2024)

The former CEO of a Roanoke Valley credit union was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months in prison for embezzlement, a crime that prosecutors said was part of a larger scheme that caused the financial institution to fail.

Kelly Givens, 39, exploited the trust she built among members of the FedStar Federal Credit Union, its employees and its board of directors, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon said in pronouncing punishment.

“This was not some unknown mass of people, or some corporation,” the judge told a contrite Givens, who was allowed to self-report to prison later. “The credit union was made up of its members. She had the significant trust of those members and the board. She betrayed that trust.”

Givens pleaded guilty last year to using FedStar’s credit card and Amazon account to make about $10,000 in personal purchases of items that included running shoes, tickets for sporting events and concerts, glamour photographs, a smart television and other goods.

But the defendant was responsible for far more than abuse of a company credit card, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Johnson argued.

“She is responsible for the failure of the FedStar credit union,” Johnson said, describing how Givens “had been cooking the books” for years to conceal her credit card transactions and protect her job by making it appear the credit union was in good financial health and growing.

By the time the board of directors discovered the truth, it was too late to save FedStar. The credit union, with locations in Salem, northwest Roanoke and the Poff federal building downtown, was dissolved three years ago and merged with InFirst Federal Credit Union.

“Kelly Givens shaped the illusion of success, and the members of the credit union paid the price,” Johnson said.

At a hearing in January, defense attorney Correy Diviney objected to efforts by prosecutors to lengthen Given’s sentence based on her related conduct, which they contend caused FedStar to collapse. To do that would punish her for acts for which she was not charged, Diviney argued.

Dillon agreed in a written opinion last week, finding that the government had failed to prove the elements – which included the use of sophisticated means and intent to jeopardize the safety and soundness of the credit union – that are required for the application of enhanced sentencing guidelines.

Given’s attorneys say she lacked a college degree or any formal training in accounting, making her woefully unprepared for the job of CEO when she was promoted in 2016, moving up from her starting position as a teller. In earlier testimony, Givens said that her tenure in the top job was shaped, at least in part, by her reading of the book “Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the Grateful Dead.”

“Since she was fired four years ago, she has lived under a black cloud, facing a potential prison sentence and fines that would cripple her family,” Jennifer Givens, a University of Virginia law professor who is the defendant’s cousin and co-counsel, argued Tuesday.

A plea agreement in the case set a range of between four and 24 months in prison. The defense asked for four to six months of home confinement; Johnson sought a term of 18 months.

Even though Givens was not exposed to enhanced sentencing guidelines, Johnson cited much of the conduct she had earlier detailed in seeking a higher punishment.

Givens continued to embezzle after being caught, misled the credit union’s board and reported false information to its regulatory agency, the National Credit Union Administration, Johnson said.

Some of what the government first believed to be personal expenses turned out to be purchases Givens made for FedStar.

“She used the company credit card to create the corporate image and atmosphere she wanted, purchasing a Skee-Ball machine and outfitting a children’s playroom for the office, buying high-end electronics like Apple iPods and Nintendo Switches for annual meeting door prizes, and charging thousands and thousands of dollars in food, all under the guise of business expenses,” Johnson wrote in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

When employees questioned her high-spending ways, they were fired by Givens or pressured to quit, the prosecutor said.

In deciding on a 10-month term, Dillon said it was important to deter similar conduct by those in positions of power and trust, and to protect the public’s respect for the judicial system. Dillon chose not to impose a fine, saying it was more important for Givens to make a $10,000 payment in restitution to the credit union’s insurance company.

“I made a horrible mistake, and I am deeply ashamed and sorry,” Givens told the judge in a statement before she was sentenced. “I am here to face the consequences.”