Four Men Indicted For Expansive Scheme To Defraud State Employees’ Credit Union

RALEIGH – A federal grand jury has indicted Keyondre Deionta Purvis, 27, Calvin Daminice Stewart, 29, Michael Raekwon Ryner, 29, and Quavedrian Da’mon Gibson, 27. The indictment alleges the defendants engaged in an expansive scheme to defraud the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU).

“Protecting the integrity of banks and credit unions that serve North Carolina’s public is a top priority,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle. “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of fraud and safeguard the trust and money placed in these institutions.”

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2022, the defendants allegedly carried out a fraud upon SECU by exploiting a security vulnerability. After securing access to numerous SECU accounts, the defendants engaged in sham transactions – repeatedly depositing and withdrawing funds from member accounts to artificially inflate the accounts’ assumed balances during a reconciliation period. The defendants were then alleged to have withdrawn large amounts of cash in excess of the true account balances.

According to the indictment, after the defendants completed the sham activity and the inflated withdrawals during the reconciliation period, the accounts were left with negative balances that were not repaid, thus defrauding SECU.

Ellis Boyle, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge James E. Gates presided over Stewart’s initial appearance.

The FBI is leading the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Beraka is prosecuting the case.