WASHINGTON – Salusthian Lutamila, the former Director of Finance of the Inter-American Development Bank – IIC Federal Credit Union, was sentenced today to 44 months in prison for an embezzlement scheme in which he stole $610,000 from the credit union.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division.
Lutamila, 53, of Hyattsville, Maryland, was found guilty by a jury in May 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, of 21 counts of bank fraud, theft by a credit union employee, wire fraud, and money laundering. He was sentenced by the Honorable James E. Boasberg. Following his prison term, Lutamila will be placed on three years of supervised release. During that time, he is barred from working in finance or accounting. He also must pay $76,069 in restitution and an equal amount in a forfeiture money judgment.
According to the government’s evidence at trial, from November 2016 through April 2019, Lutamila worked at the credit union, first as the Controller and then as the Acting Chief Financial Officer. Shortly after finding out that he was not being promoted to the role of Chief Financial Officer, Lutamila began embezzling money from the credit union. Specifically, beginning in November 2018 through January 2019, Lutamila stole $610,000.
Throughout the scheme, Lutamila abused and misused his position and employment at the credit union in order to illegally transfer money from internal operating accounts to a previously dormant checking account. Lutamila then abused the authority granted to him as Acting CFO to secretly move that money to an E-Trade account he had opened at the beginning of the scheme.
Lutamila then used the stolen money to pay off his car, increase the balance on his retirement account, and buy stocks. Lutamila’s scheme was discovered only a few weeks before he was set to resign from the credit union when the newly hired CFO identified the fraudulent transfers. Due to the quick actions by the newly hired CFO, the credit union was able to flag the fraud and get back most of the embezzled money.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Special Agent in Charge Jacobs commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They commended the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Mariela Andrade and Michon Tart, and Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Janani Iyengar, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Jackson and former U.S. Attorney Peter Lallas, who prosecuted the case. 
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