Settlement Conference Set In NCUA’s $95M JAFCU Case
By CU Today Staff —
JACKSON, Miss.—NCUA and three defendants in its civil case involving the alleged misappropriation of approximately $95 million from Jackson Area Federal Credit Union have been ordered to appear next month for a settlement conference, opening the possibility of a negotiated resolution in a case that has produced months of litigation over frozen assets and allegedly diverted funds.
The settlement conference is scheduled for Oct. 16 at 9 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert P. Myers Jr. in Gulfport, according to a Sept. 18 court notice. Local counsel, lead counsel and the parties—including representatives with full settlement authority—must attend in person. Attorneys have until Sept. 30 to privately submit to Myers a memorandum of no more than three pages providing an overview of the case, a “candid appraisal” of their positions and possible settlement figures.
The conference comes as the NCUA, acting as conservator of JAFCU, pursues claims against former CEO Leigh Bridges, her husband, Chad Bridges, and former branch manager Tina Funez. The agency's amended complaint seeks money judgments against Leigh Bridges for fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty, among other claims, while seeking to unwind alleged fraudulent transfers involving Chad Bridges and Funez.
As CUToday.info most recently reported, the NCUA has also sought tighter restrictions on the defendants’ frozen assets, alleging Leigh Bridges attempted to redeem as much as $200,000 in credit-card reward points for gift cards after the asset freeze was imposed. Earlier, CUToday.info reported the NCUA alleged its forensic auditor had attributed $73.3 million in JAFCU losses to Bridges and detailed spending that included private-jet travel, luxury goods and an $88,275 Cartier watch. The NCUA placed JAFCU into conservatorship May 6.
Originally reported by CU Today.