Many thanks to the readers who tipped JJ off to the Mississippi Magazine article yesterday.
It is rare indeed when a con artist openly displays his wares but such happened some time ago right here in Mississippi. Former Jackson Area Credit Union President Leigh Bridges and her husband Chad stand accused of embezzling tens and tens of millions of dollars so they could buy expensive homes, luxury jewelry, and even a Steinway piano. Stealing (allegedly) $95 million is brazen. Even more brazen is showing off the crime in where else but Mississippi Magazine. Earlier post on alleged embezzlement.
For their 27 years of marriage, Leigh and Chad Bridges have resided in beautiful historic homes, their previous house was built in 1857 and is said to be the oldest in Hazlehurst. While enjoying the process of renovating and decorating a historic home, the two felt it was important to stay true to the period of the house and closeted their more contemporary tastes. After deciding to relocate closer to their offices in Jackson, the couple searched for a home with a more contemporary feel. When the couple discovered a house in the Eastover neighborhood constructed in 1965, but extensively remodeled in the late 1990s, they found the perfect space to intertwine their traditional antiques with modern elements to create a style more suited to their personalities.
Complaint: Funds used to purchase, furnish, and improve home at 3826 Sleepy Hollow in Jackson, 2085 Great Southern Road in Hazlehurts, 257 Eastbrook St. in Jackson, and of course, 29500 Perdido Beach Boulevard Apartment 702 in Orange Beach.
The previous renovation of the French Country home resulted in smart design choices with an ideal layout and good bones such as cypress doors and intricate crown moldings. The stately home stands high on a hill that showcases its simplicity, symmetry, and refined elements. The single-level home with the capacity to suit their lifestyle also provided well-established landscaping and the ideal space to install the swimming pool and guest house they desired. After a cosmetic update, that included a kitchen refresh by contractor Louis Wilkinson of Craig Wilkinson, Inc., Leigh and Chad were set to commence establishing their personal style.
Complaint: $906,704 to Craig Wilkinson Inc, a construction company. July 2019 to July 2024
To create their aesthetic, the couple called upon designer Courtney Peters of the eponymous firm in Jackson. They were drawn to her willingness to incorporate their existing furnishings and accessories while weaving in new modern pieces and patterns. “I knew immediately her artistic eye would be able to bring a nice balance between beautiful fabrics and our existing antiques,” Leigh states. Courtney also embraced the couple’s eclectic collections of accessories, art, and even Leigh’s beloved handbags by creating unique ways to incorporate them into her design. “Designing your house should be a special experience,” Courtney notes. “It should be fun picking things out and seeing your ideas come to fruition.” Color and pattern were of the utmost importance when making selections, and Courtney and Leigh spent many afternoons culling the perfect choices. The two decided to keep some of the existing wall colors in certain rooms, and Courtney added contrast and energy with light-colored Crypton upholstery and kaleidoscopic Oushak rugs. Patterned wallpapers and drapery brightened other spaces and added personality to more traditional furnishings and neutral carpeting. The blend of both playful and traditional motifs in drapery and upholstery brings color to the forefront to create the charming and charismatic home the couple desired. The use of color plays a huge role in this residence, seen through the personal section of artworks, accessories, and even the signature Tiffany blend of tea—their personal vice—featured in the custom mini-coffee and tea bar.
Complaint: $250,184 to Courtney Peters Interior Design. July 2019 to January 2024
Artwork is such a personal and inspirational part of design, and Courtney believes the client should enjoying looking and living with it for years to come. “I always encourage clients to visit galleries to find artwork that speaks to them,” states the designer. Chad and Leigh sourced much of their artwork from local artists and gathered many pieces on their travels. Courtney worked each piece into a perfect space so to add depth and charm to its room. Among the couple’s favorite pieces are commissioned paintings of past and presents pets as well as a collaboration between Chad and his brother in 1972 at ages 2 and 4. “As the story goes, their mother needed a project to ‘entertain’ the children while she completed her master’s thesis, and finger painting provided the perfect outlet!” she laughs. These sentimental masterpieces are mixed with custom selections by Dick Ford, Charlie Busler, and Angelika Robinson and others from Browns Fine Art in Jackson—all perfectly placed by the detailed eye of the designer.
Complaint: $45,956 to Brown Fine Arts from March 2019 to March 2026
In the space previously used as the home gym, Courtney’s creativity overflowed as she custom-designed Leigh’s favorite space—her “purse room,” which displays both her considerable collection of handbags and her “girlie” side. Each grouping of bags was systematically measured to be sure that each had the perfect size cabinet or drawer for adequate space. The pair used this as a great design opportunity to create a fun, feminine space with accents such as a chandelier and blue and white printed carpeting. Rainbow rows of clutches, satchels, and totes are showcased in boutique-style, allowing every morning’s selection to feel like a stroll down Fifth Avenue.
Fifth Avenue? Would that include a trip to Tiffany's?
The lighting selections are another beloved collection curated by the homeowners and the designer. The dining room is topped with a statement piece by Kate Spade that lends the ideal modern element to the deep-colored walls and traditional furnishings. In the breakfast room, enveloped by an entertaining paper featuring eggs in various cool tones, a gorgeous tiered piece takes center stage over the table. The couple spotted the chandelier in a restaurant in Orange Beach, and Courtney sourced the appropriate size and incorporated it into the lively space. The designer also installed brass picture lights to accent the artwork in the main hallway. The addition is the icing on the cake. “Many view lighting as jewelry for a room,” Courtney notes. “That being said, we had a great time specifying fixtures as Leigh loves statement light fixtures as much as she loves accessories.” After commuting for years into Jackson, the proximity to work for Chad and Leigh was essential, and their new home was the ideal discovery. With the help of their talented designer, the house reflects the approachable and lively personalities the couple shares. “The mix of their antiques with fun, new details adds a lived-in element that makes the home interesting and inviting,” Courtney adds. After this incredible transformation and blending of their old and new lives, they look forward to opening their home to friends and family for festive celebrations. M.
Check out some of the photos published in Mississippi Magazine. Notice the chandelier and the Steinway.
Complaint: $129,300 to purchase a Steinway piano
Did someone say chandelier?
38 comments:
Prediction: Once indicted these nouveau riche bitches will not go to trial.
In a just society, imprisonment would not be an option.
Couldn't have done it alone.
Thanks for the update, KF !
So this "civil matter" seems fairly straightforward. All the loot will need to be repossessed and will no doubt fall vastly short of what was allegedly embezzled.
My first question is did a lot of the jewelry described find its way to an offshore lockbox somewhere. Or is it in a crypto account as I see where Coinbase was mentioned in the previous article.
I'm also mystified by is an absence of a criminal indictment. Do "these things just take time" and it could be expected very soon? Or is there more to the story with JAFCUA internally and that's why there's been no reporting of a criminal complaint filed.
When I read the story yesterday, I was wondering how one spends “$3.3 million for purchases at Brooks Collection, a Jackson luxury jewelry and handbag store. December 2022 to March 2026.“ The “Fifth Avenue” display in the walk-in closet answers some of that. What an obscene display of ill-gotten gains. Would love to know what they thought the end game was. $95MM can just quietly disappear from the books forever?
2:46 I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that since this case is going before Dan Jordan, it's criminal in nature. After all, it's a federal case for fraud.
@2:46 yes they have a house in Honduras through their Au Pair Tina. There is a lot of hidden money there.
I wonder if there is a clawback from profits of contractors & designers?
Don’t use credit unions
Like banks don’t credit unions have oversight? Safeguards? Auditors? Finical officers? Remember we’re talking about 95 million from a small credit union with only 3 branches. How could no one have noticed something was suspicious
Not in Mississippi anyway.....
@2:46, page 21 of the Complaint lists a Jury Demand, trial by jury.
Great post, Kingfish.
@3:30 Why should the designers and contractors pay for this? How would they know the money wasn’t from a legitimate source?
Stealing from the people that trust you with their hard earned money, disgusting
Why the hell didn’t they buy a helicopter to get to work? Talk about some Idiots.
Some, if not most, of the bags in the “purse room” have high resale value and many are purchased as investments.
From what I have read online this woman was a longtime credit union employee who succeeded the credit union president upon his retirement. As a longtime employee she likely had built a reputation of trust with the members and probably was involved in every operational advancement implemented.
WHAT? A helicopter to get to work?
The sleepy hollow house in NE Jackson is phenomenal.
You can only hope that their sentence is so long that they die in prison. I bet that possibility was not part of the plan.
This right here. How could these people have known to suspect something?
Everyene should know by now the 'Sip is the place where wonderful and amazing thing happen on the regular.
A place where the CEO of a small credit union and her state employee office drone middle manager husband can live like they have disposable income like a Silicon Valley hedge fund founder.
It is worth mentioning that since 2024 Chad Bridges held the position of Director of the Financial and Market Regulation Division with the Mississippi Insurance Department. What does that position do? What sort of regulation? Anything that could possibly involve favored status for insurance companies in exchange for something?
“$84,325 to Cox Pools from March 2019 to March 2026” must have financed the “pool they desired.”
I would feel guilty snatching a grape and putting it in my mouth at the grocery store. I cannot even imagine how devoid you'd have to be of having a conscience to do what these people did.
With over $3 million of purses from Brooks Collection and a $132,000 piano, they were screaming to be seen. Yet no one knows who they are.
I've seen pictures. They should have kept the home gym.
Gaudy and vulgar are two words that come to mind.
Where the hell are the feds?
True, 4:00PM! And it looks like the poor Designer earned every cent - struggling to deal with a very controlling/interfering/mercurial client, who ran around buying a bunch of crap, which the Designer was expected to make-sense-of. Imagine having to make sense of THAT. Even the good Jackson-area clients, are really messed-up, where money is concerned, and cannot be honest about anything, to save their lives.
Downstairs from our office, there was an Architect (who long ago decamped for Palm Beach). A client - we'll call him 'Wutt Yugguh' - was Jackson Carpetbagger Royalty (aka "Jackson Old Money"), and a very churchey, righteous, scrupulously-honest pill. The architect's office manager told ours, "You'll always be able to tell when Wutt's been here. He stresses my boss to the point that his left side gits paralyzed. So, you'll see that Massawwdge Lady lugging-in that table thing. Have you ever heard that sitar music?"
You can only imagine what a BAD CLIENT would be like. Looks to me, like the hapless Designer was thwarted at every turn. She earned every cent - and then some.
And did she actually get paid the full amount? Did the Contractor get paid all he was owed? I remember hearing about a big Christian bookstore owner, who stiffed her Designer for tens of thousands of Dollars (back in the Nineties, when that was some money). After '99, the lights went out, in Jackson, and this Leigh & Chad story is the first report out of there, that I've heard, in a quarter-century.
She was the Executive Director and CFO; her having both roles meant there were no internal controls that may have prevented her from embezzling.
I came across the 2022 JAFCU Annual Report online. That is the year the longtime JAFCU president retired and Leigh Bridges was promoted to President/CEO. According to that annual report, Mrs. Bridges’ employment with JAFCU began in October 1992. She had been an employee for 30 years. In announcing the promotion, the Board of Directors chair stated Mrs. Bridges “… has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience …”
Credit unions operate with a Board of Directors, and also have a Supervisory Committee as the basic oversight entities. The Supervisory Committee is responsible the independent appraisal of a credit union’s operations and activities. This committee’s responsibility includes working with both internal and external auditors. In the case of JAFCU, at least in 2022, the Supervisory Committee consisted of three people - one of the Board of Directors and two members of the credit union.
What do you wanna bet the Board and Supervisory Committee believed everything they were told because the person in charge had been there for 30 years.
They probably said, "Fuck it. We'll be able to squirrel it all away for the kids/grandkids.....in days of old, those kids/grandkids might have been held accountable for the debt. Today, they've probably got millions in cash, etc. hidden with the blessing of their parents. Unless, the feds keep an eye on them for the rest of their lives....
i would bet, even more remorseful than the perps they got caught, is the owner of brooks collection. there goes a lot (maybe majority) of the business revenue.
Prison digs will not be up to their impeccable tastes. Perhaps the prisons interior decorator can help pretty things up for them.
According to Govsalaries.com, Chad Bridges made $129,281 in his job with the MS Insurance Department in 2025. According to WLBT, Chad Bridges made $86,633 with JAFCU in 2025 (two full time jobs?). According to Govsalaries.com, Leigh Bridges made $193,758 in her job at JAFCU in 2025. You would think they could live pretty comfortably on combined salaries of $409,172.
Baxter Kruger has the the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District for the last six months. Anybody heard from him on this?
3:17, the pending case is civil, not criminal. If it were a criminal case, it would have been filed by the government.
I suppose they didn’t claim any of this ill gotten income in their taxes either. As usual MSDOR is too asleep at the wheel to investigate or bother with filing charges.
5:14 - it certainly warrants looking into !
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