The former President of the Jackson Area Federal Credit Union did not just live high on the hog, she allegedly lived high off the whole pigsty. The National Federal Credit Union Board accused Leigh Bridges and her husband Chad of looting the Jackson Area Federal Credit Union to the tune of $95 million in a lawsuit filed against the couple.
Leigh Bridges became President and CEO of JAFCU in 2021 after serving as CFO. She signed all financial statements and handled all account reconciliations for wire transfers. The Board suspended Bridges on April 17, 2026 as it investigated alleged embezzlement by Mrs. Bridges.
The complaint claims Bridges made bogus Automated Clearing House entries, large wire transfers to her personal accounts as well as luxury retailers, and fraudulent entries in the general ledger. In other words, the President allegedly doctored the books while she looted her employer. Chad and Leigh allegedly used their share accounts at the credit union to further their fraud.
The parent credit union alleges Leigh made over $51 million in false entries in their share accounts from 2015 to 2026. The complaint spells out how the money was spent.
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.
The complaint charges the Bridgeses 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),
Attorney Allyson Mills of Lamar Adams fame represents the plaintiff. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III.
The complaint claims the "difference between the stated financial of JAFCU and the actual financials was a deficit of $95 million."
Judge Jordan froze all financial accounts held by the Bridgeses on May 14. The frozen accounts included:
4. The financial accounts subject to paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Order include, but are not limited to, Leigh Bridges' and/or Chad Bridges' accounts with Raymond James Financial, The RealReal, Copiah Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Acorns Investing, American Express Bank, Coinbase Global, Inc., First National Bank of Omaha, ReBag, What Goes Around Comes Around- New York City, CashApp, Kansas City Life Insurance, and JAFCU.
The defendants are also enjoined from disposing of or selling any property, including the four homes. (Damn, I was hoping to get a Steinway on the cheap).
National Credit Union asked the Court to issue a preliminary injunction on June 4.
Posted below are the complaint, TRO, and motion for preliminary injunction.
11 comments:
I have never liked credit unions. Credit unions are more for people who banks won’t accept. Usually people who are unable to open up a bank account
Credit unions have better rates than banks.
When are the indictments coming out?
Is that THE Alysson Mills of Timber Fame?
One Question…how does that much, $95,000,000, in fraud and theft go undetected for any amount of time? They mussa been really good at thievery! Might want to have a serious discussion with the accountants involved at that credit union. Somebody got some splaining to do.
Don’t use credit unions goto a bank
13 employees of the CU have been fired so this is going to be Deep
John Colette has two more suckers on the line, but how will they pay? She will probably die in prison, as she’s no spring chicken. He might have a decade left once he gets out.
As a witness to Marcus Gordon sentencing a poor classmate to 12 years for a <$1,000 (felonious nonetheless) bad check many years ago...I am certain I will see commensurate justice here...ha.
As a member of the JAFCU, does this mean they are going to go belly-up and I need to switch to a different credit union?
How in the world can a credit union with assets of (Jackson Area Federal Credit Union is a federally insured, federally chartered credit union with 15,561 members and reported assets of $162,360,956) be out of balance $91,000,000 and still pass a compliance audit with 56% of the assets are gone.
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