Chad Bridges sure did live high on the hog. Private jets, Cartier watches, fancy Dior shoes, you name it, he had it, all courtesy of stolen Jackson Area Credit Union funds if a regulator is to be believed.
Former JAFCU President Leigh Bridges and her husband Chad allegedly embezzled tens of millions of dollars from the credit union for ten years. The National Credit Union Administration Board obtained a federal preliminary injunction freezing all of their assets, including Chad's retirement accounts and trust fund. National filed a clawback lawsuit in May.
Chad claimed in his motion to dissolve the preliminary injunction he was unaware of his wife's alleged embezzlement. However, National stated embezzled funds moved through his account at the credit union while he made rather extravagant purchases that far outweighed would he could afford on his state salary.
National's attorney Alysson Mills stated in the response "Approximately $26.8 million of funds transferred from the general ledger of JAFCU into Chad and Leigh Bridges' JAFCU account." However, Mills was not done with blowing up Mr. Bridges:
In addition to benefiting from the JAFCU funds likely used to purchase, and certainly used to renovate, his residence, Chad Bridges made luxurious personal property purchases. This includes spending $24,817.88 to purchase a necklace, $5,202.00 to purchase three pairs of sneakers and what appears to be a wallet, and making a roughly $34,389.80 deposit for an item from Christian Dior. Chad Bridges also has a collection of expensive luxury watches, including watches from Rolex, Patek Phillipe, Cartier, and Vacheron Constantin. Chad Bridges also spent lavishly on travel. He booked a private jet that cost $13,335.00. That jet was booked with the American Express card that Leigh Bridges paid for using JAFCU funds. . Chad Bridges flew on private jets with Leigh Bridges on multiple occasions. He traveled extensively with Leigh Bridges, travel which included trips to Nice, France and the island of Utila in Honduras. Chad Bridges also benefited from Leigh Bridges’ exorbitant spending in other ways. He received flight upgrades for his business trips. Chad and Leigh Bridges both received over $7,600 in benefits for the money spent with Graziela Gems, a jewelry company, which included a three-night stay at a luxury hotel in New York City.
The receipts tell the story:
Zodiaque necklace: $24,817
Dior: 4 pairs of shoes for a total of $5,200
Dior: $34, 389
Cartier Watch: $82,275 (Leigh purchased this for Chad)
Private jet rental: $13,335
Granziela & Brooks NYC VIP Experience: $26,502
Good living if you can get it. However, there is the matter of how did Mr. Bridges afford such luxury? The plaintiff states the salary deposited into his credit union account was $56,719 pear year for the last seven years (after payroll deductions). Mills argues it is impossible for Chad to spend such money on his state salary.
Mills justifies the freeze order "Chad Bridges’ modest salary as a state employee, and the significant property and benefits he received from Leigh Bridges, he almost certainly received many fraudulent transfers for no consideration, making him potentially liable to the NCUAB as a fraudulent transferee."
Chad claims no embezzled funds were placed in his retirement accounts. However, National argues the defendant substantially benefitted from the alleged embezzlement, thus allowing him to use his salary to fund his retirement accounts. (Hmmm.... the state retirement account is funded by a required deduction. Could this argument apply to such an account since he would have no choice in the depositing of those funds into his PERS account?) Such conduct should "not allow him to shield his retirement accounts."
The defendant charges the freeze order keeps him from paying for basic living expenses and attorney's fees. National claims Chad has no right to a lawyer in a civil lawsuit and besides, the Court can prevent him from spending "disputed funds" on legal counsel.
Chad's attorneys took his case aware his funds might be frozen. Thus they should bear some risk for representing the defendant. The disputed funds should be available for restitution, not paying attorneys. National argued Chad could borrow money from relatives or use credit cards to pay for representation.
The Court cannot know what the requested funds are for because Chad Bridges says nothing about it in his motion. He did previously provide a proposed budget to NCUAB counsel, however. That budget contains $6,171 per month in expenses unrelated to the upkeep of the real property at issue in this litigation, including $2,900 per month for rent and utilities. This requested amount does not even include a car payment; Chad Bridges is permitted to use the Bridges’ Mercedes CLA for necessary travel. Given that over the last seven years, the amount of salary deposited into Chad Bridges’ JAFCU share account averaged $56,719.30 per year after payroll deductions, Chad Bridges’ request for $74,052 in frozen funds to live on per year is excessive. Although Chad Bridges has not been forthcoming with the Court about his expenses, he does state that his only income has been unemployment in the amount of $235 per week since losing his employment in mid-June. He must therefore be paying most of his living expenses with some other source of funds. Because all of Chad Bridges’ accounts are frozen, and because he has not affirmatively stated that he is using lines of credit or money from family for living expenses, the NCUAB must presume that he is using frozen funds to live.National claims it does not know if Chad is using frozen funds because he has not provided any account statements showing his monthly spending as required by the preliminary injunction.
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.
18 comments:
Drink Jackson water and there is a good chance that you will become a thief.
Kingfish, this is completely off topic, but Whole Foods scans driver licenses from any one purchasing beer. They don't explain where the data ends up, but my concern is that it might be going to the id check place in Louisiana the just got hacked for 153 mil records. Can you ask?
Don't allow them to scan. If they deny the sale take business elsewhere.
I have read every one of these posts but don't remember anywhere seeing Mrs Bridges CU salary posted. Anybody know?
Where were the credit unions safe guards? Officers?? Auditors?? They need to all be held accountable!
Chad Bridges needs to be put under the jail. I keep thinking of the massive loss of confident in credit unions.
There used to be an old saying, "No one is above the law". As I said, used to be an old saying.
The retirement accounts reference are almost certainly additional 401k accounts and such. Freezing a State retirement account would be nearly impossible, especially as it wouldn't have funds derived from the called fraud, etc. And Kingfish likely knows this, but does like stirring up comments ;)
It was an honest question as I am unschooled in the finer points of federal asset seizure law.
Can someone qualified to do so please help me understand how the Bridges and Lamar Adams mentally believed they could get away with their behavior forever
im suprised the WSJ hasnt picked up this story, unbelievable. I bet they told themselves multiple times "$14 million to AMEX, ahhh thats nothing if you think about it"
Damn ol boy Chad is rolling on his wife. He says he don’t know nothin about nothin. Mama just brought home the bacon and he didn’t ask. Chad sounds a little zesty considering his purchases. Come on Chad, you drink the milk, you go down with the cow.
If i had gotten away with stealing millions of dollars i think i would have just moved it offshore and stayed in Honduras.
Aly$&on Mills and $had White uprooting all the Mississippi money trees! We need more Aly$$had, so much more.
His salary is a public record. Subtract 25% (9% retirement; make a guess on tax withholdings, etc.) and you may be able to tell if additional funds were being sent to additional retirement accounts. Let’s say he was putting $625 a month into an IRA or deferred comp plan and you can analyze that data and make an assumption. So if salary was 100k and he’s only taking home 45%, likely an additional amount is going somewhere, possibly to a second retirement account.
Commenters here repeat a mistake I used to make about understanding embezzler's motives and common sense. The thieves' dopamine rush from free money overwhelms their fear of getting caught, like adulterous sex, gambling, driving 120 in a 70, cocaine, are all roller coaster rides to hell.
And as Leigh heads off to jail, Chad will skip off into the sunset with Tina. Now wouldn’t that be hilarious.
KF, state employees can participate in 457 Deferred Compensation Accounts. I think one can deduct up to $1500/mo before taxes. I remember a reference to a $86xxx salary in earlier reporting. Subtract 30 from 86 and you get 56 in old math . That money grows in mutual funds without taxes until you withdraw it, so it could be significant (for folks who don't fly on private jets.)
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