When two board members of the Jackson Area Federal Credit Union and two NCUA examiners confronted CEO Leigh Bridges on April 17 about a $95 million shortfall on the credit union's books, she initially said she was unaware of what might have caused that problem.
And then there was a significant pause in the conversation.
That pregnant pause was finally broken when Bridges began to give a more truthful explanation of what had occurred, according to a sworn declaration by NCUA Supervisory Examiner Timothy O'Quinn. He and NCUA examiner Damien Baylor, Jackson Area Federal Credit Union Board Chair John Anderson and Board Member Rick Hill, were in the credit union's conference room where they questioned Bridges.
Baylor and Hill also made sworn declarations that were part of the civil lawsuit the NCUA filed on May 14 in U.S. District Court in Jackson, just nine days after the agency placed the institution into conservatorship on May 6.The lawsuit alleges Bridges and her husband, Chad Bridges, allegedly diverted at least $95 million from the Mississippi credit union.
From 2015 to March 31, 2026, Bridges allegedly siphoned millions, buying high-end jewelry, handbags, luxury cars, fine art and a Steinway piano, and made payments to a construction company, interior designer, pool installer and a property maintenance services company. She also made more than $15 million in credit card payments and a $20,130 wire transfer from Jackson Area to Chung P. Luk in Hong Kong, China.
O'Quinn informed the Jackson Area Federal Credit Union (JAFCU) board of directors on April 16 that there was a problem with the credit union's financial reporting to the NCUA.
"My colleagues and I shared with them that a corporate credit union doing business with JAFCU, Corporate America Credit Union (CACU) had informed the agency that of suspicious activity taking placed at the credit union," O'Quinn wrote in his declaration. "After being informed of these irregularities, members of the board of directors reviewed statements provided by JAFCU to the NCUA and compared those to the statements obtained directly from CACU."
The board then scheduled the April 17 meeting with Bridges.
At the beginning of that meeting, the two board members informed Bridges that based on the conflicting statements from JAFCU and CACU, the board of directors decided to suspend her with pay. Her annual salary in 2025 was $216,564, according to court records.
Bridges admitted that over the last six years she has been transferring funds from JAFCU's general ledger to her personal accounts so that she would have adequate funds to make extensive personal purchases, including expensive jewelry and handbags, O'Quinn wrote.
She concealed the transfers of funds by manually entering deceptive but plausible titles for the ACH deposits into her account that appeared to be legitimate. She also manually altered the month-end corporate reconciliations to show items in transit for the missing funds and then altered figures on the CACU statements to show the items clearing properly.
When asked if other credit union employees would have access to create fictitious records, Bridges said no. She also denied manipulating other member accounts and fraudulently removing funds through other methods.
After she admitted to the misappropriations, Bridges offered to pay back the funds.
"She stated she could return multiple millions from her bank accounts at other financial institutions, including American Express, Acorns and Chase," O'Quinn wrote. "Further, she offered to sell everything she owned, other than her homes, in order to pay back the amount she owes. She asserted that the amount missing was less than $94 million and that she had enough material assets to sell and pay it all back."
At about 11:25 a.m. on April 17 the board adjourned the discussion, collected her JAFCU keys and laptops, and escorted her from the building.
Leigh and Chad Bridges did not respond to CU Times' request for comment. Their attorney, John Colette, did not respond to a request for comment. A person who identified herself as a paralegal at Colette's Jackson office said he has no comment.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at peter.strozniak@cutimes.com.
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