The Mississippi Insurance Department has fired its top examiner, a month after he was implicated in a multimillion-dollar embezzlement scandal at his wife’s credit union.
Chad Bridges, the director of financial and market regulation at the insurance department since early 2024, was placed on administrative leave in May after the conservator for the troubled Jackson Area Federal Credit Union named him and his wife in a $95 million lawsuit. Last week, the insurance department terminated his employment altogether, according to news .
“Effective Monday, June 15, Chad Bridges is no longer employed with the Mississippi Insurance Department,” MID Communications Director Beth Reiss said in a statement to news .
Bridges’ wife, Leigh Bridges, was CEO at the credit union for a number of years. The lawsuit by the National Credit Union Administration charges that she diverted millions of dollars to her and her husband’s personal accounts. The money reportedly funded a lavish lifestyle, including a home remodel, luxury cars and more, while the credit union sank into financial trouble.
Chad Bridges, at the insurance department since 2004, had no access to public funds and the department is not accused of wrongdoing, the department said. As director of financial and market regulation, he oversaw the solvency of insurers, compliance matters, examinations and market conduct regulation.
His attorney said last week that Bridges has no comment at this time. His wife has offered to repay the missing funds.
The scandal is reminiscent of another alleged credit union theft of almost identical proportions. In 1991, Lawrence E. King Jr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to embezzling $39 million from a Nebraska credit union that he managed. His wife was sentenced to three years, according to news at the time.
When inflation is calculated, the dollar amount of that episode comes to more than $95 million today.
Read more here: Mississippi’s Top Examiner Named in $90M Credit Union Theft Suit
Topics Mississippi
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