PONTIAC, Mich.–It isn’t just credit unions here reeling from the fallout of an alleged decade-long embezzlement at a local CU that amounted to as much as $20 million—local charities and non-profits are feeling it as well.
Michael LaJoice, the former CFO at Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union, was well-known for his financial support of numerous causes and projects in the Fenton, Mich., community, according to the Tri-County Times. Several of LaJoice’s companies, including LaJoice Properties and Chasse Ballroom & Latin Dance Studio, were the sponsors of a number of Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce events. The Tri-County Times said those companies provided $5,617 in sponsorship for Chamber events. It is suspected all of the money came from embezzled funds at the credit union.
The publication reported that LaJoice’s companies’ sponsorships included the Expo, Taste in Fenton, Linden Easter Event and an annual golf scramble.
LaJoice was also known as a top local donor to “Back Pack Night” (raising funds to end childhood hunger through the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan), “Pink Night” (“Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” fund-raiser), and St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church , according to the Tri-County Times.
Pink Night, which was hosted by Financial Plus Credit Union and the community-at-large, benefitted from LaJoice’s $15,000 title sponsorship.
Margie Shard, of Shard Financial Services, which has been involved in charitable events in which LaJoice was a donor, was quoted by the Tri-County Times as saying, “We, as a community, have a lot of lessons to learn from this. We need to know there are checks and balances in our organizations and businesses. No one would’ve expected that a credit union wouldn’t have checks and balances in place. This doesn’t represent all the great credit unions we have in Genesee County.”