Criminal Charges Filed Against Former JAFCU CEO

JACKSON, Miss. — Federal prosecutors have charged the former president and CEO of Jackson Area Federal Credit Union with stealing about $90 million from the institution over more than a decade.

A bill of information filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi charges Leigh James Bridges with theft of funds from a federal credit union, making false statements to a federal credit union and filing a false tax return, WLBT reported. Prosecutors allege the money funded luxury purchases, real estate and travel.

Bridges worked at the credit union from 1992 until April 2026. She served as chief financial officer before becoming CEO in 2021. Prosecutors allege she began using her executive access to divert credit union funds into personal accounts as early as 2011, according to WLBT.

As the CU Daily reported most recently here, a forensic auditor has identified $73.3 million in losses at Jackson Area Federal Credit Union that NCUA attributes directly to former CEO Leigh Bridges. The estimate, disclosed in a Sept. 23 filing and reviewed by the CU Daily, exceeds the more than $51 million in allegedly false account entries the agency previously identified. It comes as the NCUA fights Bridges’ request to use frozen retirement funds for living expenses and $250,000 in attorney fees.

How Scheme Allegedly Worked

Court filings describe several ways Bridges allegedly concealed the diversion. They include posting fictitious deposits that appeared to be electronic transfers from outside investment firms, altering monthly statements and obtaining outside funds to cover shortfalls. In one monthly statement, transactions were inflated by nearly $90 million, according to the report.

Aas the CU Daily has been reporting, the National Credit Union Administration Board placed the credit union into conservatorship in May 2026.

If convicted, Bridges faces up to 30 years in prison on the credit union theft and false statement charges and up to three years on the false tax return charge, WLBT reported. The charges are allegations; Bridges has not been convicted.