Leah Bridges wants her money. The former Jackson Area Federal Credit Union President asked U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III to unfreeze half a million dollars in her retirement accounts.
Bridges argues in a supporting memorandum that the Court froze her assets when her husband was working at the Mississippi Insurance Department. It was assumed they could live off of his salary. However, MID fired Chad Bridges after Leigh's alleged embezzlement came to light. Chad has been unable to find employment and receives $230 in unemployment benefits that expire in December.
Leigh claims National can not garnish or attach her retirement account under state law. If the Court does not approve the motion, she will not be able to pay basic living expenses, argues Leigh.
Synopsis
Leigh Bridges is the former President of the Jackson Area Federal Credit Union. She became President of the credit union in 2021 after serving as CFO. The President signed all financial statements and handled all account reconciliations for wire transfers. The National Credit Union Administration Board terminated Bridges after it uncovered the alleged embezzlement. The credit union accused her and her husband Chad of embezzling between $55 and 95 million.
NCUAB sued the Bridges in May. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III issued a temporary restraining order against the Bridges in May and froze all assets at the request of the plaintiff.
The complaint claims Leigh Bridges doctored the books while looting her employer of tens of millions of dollars. NCUAB alleged Leigh made bogus automated clearing house entries, wired large sums of money to her personal accounts as well as luxury retailers such as Tiffany's, and made fraudulent entries in the general ledger. The couple used their share accounts at the credit union to further the alleged fraud. Their lifestyle was so posh Mississippi Magazine featured their home.
The parent credit union accused Leigh of making over $51 million in false entries in the couple's share accounts from 2015 to 2026. (Read the complaint as it spells out in great detail how the money was spent. Earlier post with copy of complaint and list of the loot.)
Judge Jordan issued a preliminary injunction freezing the Bridges assets in July. NCUAB is the trustee for the assets and is allowed to seize any asset it determines were purchased with stolen funds.
The complaint charges the Bridges with fraudulent misrepresentation (Leigh), Fraudulent misrepresentation - financial transactions (Leigh), conversion of JAFCU funds (Leigh) , Breach of fiduciary duty (Leigh), personal liability under 12. U.S.C. 1787 (Leigh), Fraudulent transfers (Leigh), Fraudulent transfers (Chad), Enforcement of constructive trust (Both defendants),
Mills added Tina Funez as a defendant in June. Employed at JAFCU since 2006, Funez became a branch manager in 2023. How did Funez figure into the alleged scheme? Keep reading.
The Loot
* $15 million to pay personal credit card bills from January 2025 to March 2026. The payments included $14.4 million to American Express, $531,444 to Apple Card, and $68,871 to Chase card.
* $3.3 million for purchases at Brooks Collection, a Jackson luxury jewelry and handbag store. December 2022 to March 2026
* $906,704 to Craig Wilkinson Inc, a construction company. July 2019 to July 2024
* $250,184 to Courtney Peters Interior Design. July 2019 to January 2024
* $129,300 to purchase a Steinway piano. March 2019 to March 2026.
* $127,870 for two Mercedes-Benz vehicles in 2019 and 2020
* $45,956 to Brown Fine Arts from March 2019 to March 2026
* $84,325 to Cox Pools from March 2019 to March 2026
* $273,400 to Coinbase Global in 2021
* $295,000 to Joseph Gad Inc. a luxury diamond & colored gemstone jeweler in New York City. January 2021 to March 2026
* $66,571 to purchase a Tesla in March 2023
* $41,500 to Graziela Inc, a luxury jewelry in Illinois
* $378,780 to Tiffany (of course) in New York City in April 2024
* $20,130 to Chung P. Luk in Hong Kong in August 2023.
* $617,507 to Premier Prive in Palo Alto, CA. Used to purchase jewels from luxury jeweler Circa Jewels. January 2021 to March 2026
* 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.
* $13.8 million to Chad Bridges from May 2019 to May 2026. The money was used to fund several of the purchases above.
* $200,000 transferred to Leigh's family members through Chad's share account.
20 comments:
She gonna run off if she gets that money.
Why not have her live in the Tesla?
Put her ass in Parchman where she belongs and she won't have to worry about any of this.
Because of people like her is why I don’t use credit unions
Under what rule is he eligible for Unemployment Insurance? You might want to contact Tater's newly appointed Executive Director of the Department of Employment Security for an answer, knowing up front that he will not have a clue.
They are actually safer than a bank, Gomer.
Her lawyer sincerely hopes her request will be granted.
Why does she need $500,000 to live on?
The simple solution is to charge her for her crimes and lock her up.
Maybe Tina could help her out.
Why can't her husband get a job? McDonalds & Taco Bell will hire just about anyone. I heard Leigh loves 7Brew. Maybe they'd hire her at $10-$15 an hour. She could lower her special tastes and live off the wages of most Americans.
hehehehe. They could share a Tesla.
Great idea! She could Uber people around in it.
Red eyed Leigh, holding back tears:
"Oh this sucks. How can I live on this pittance. Then to wear Aliceville Prison garb and eat their wretched mush for years! Just more hurdles to drag my ruptured psyche over (sniffle, snort)."
Tell her no. Tell her someone else is using it, just like she did. What’s wrong with these folks?
I am ok with her burning up her retirement to try and fight this.
Another hayseed that thought she was part of the upper crust of society. She should want to plea ASAP, so she can start serving that sentence. If the sentence is anything less than 20 years without parole, then I will be disappointed. She deserves life.
easy peasy solution. Let her plead guilty to some criminal charges and she (nor hubby) will have any day to day living expenses, she can live at a low-cost club fed and will get three hots AND a cot.
I've still not seen a logical answer from regulators how someone could steal more than $50mil over 11 years and no body noticed. I would think claxons would be sounding at regulator offices nationwide.
Someone wasn’t smart enough to stash cash away, that’s first day stuff.
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