ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — An Indianapolis man has pleaded
guilty to defrauding thousands of investors through a fake online credit
union.
Sixty-three-year-old Timothy Coughlin entered the plea Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria.
According
to a statement of facts, from around 2006 through March 2014, Coughlin
operated the Oxford International Credit Union. Prosecutors say 5,000
investors from 50 countries made deposits to the fake credit union
totaling almost $15 million.
Authorities say in 2009, Coughlin
stopped allowing withdrawals from accounts, falsely claiming that the
United States and Canada were freezing Oxford’s assets abroad.