BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- A Birmingham lawyer serving a prison term for a fraud conviction has been disbarred by the Alabama Supreme Court.

Allen Eugene Perdue Jr., 37, who was admitted to the state bar in 1998, pleaded guilty to defrauding Alabama Power Credit Union and SouthTrust Bank while working at both institutions.

He is serving a 41-month sentence at the federal prison in Talladega, and has been ordered to pay $237,457 in restitution. [...]

Federal prosecutor Ron Brunson said Perdue was a loan officer at the credit union in 1999 when he conspired with a car dealer to set up loans for customers with bad credit histories.

Instead of seeking approval for the loans from the credit union's loan committee members, Perdue processed the high-risk loans by forging committee members' signatures and initials, Brunson said.

Once the loans were approved, the car dealer gave Perdue kickbacks, Brunson said. Perdue took out about 20 loans in the scam from March to August 1999. [...]

When the credit union discovered the scheme, they fired Perdue, who later got a job at Colonial Bank, Brunson said.

While at Colonial Bank in 2000, Perdue secured personal information and Social Security numbers on several Colonial Bank customers, Brunson said. Perdue used the information to order credit cards from SouthTrust Bank, Brunson said. [...]

Perdue had the cards mailed to his church, where he was a deacon.

Video from security cameras at ATMs showed Perdue using the cards, Brunson said. Perdue's use of the cards cost the bank $55,000, Brunson said.