CLARKSTON, Mich.—The troubled Clarkston Brandon Community CU, conserved by state regulators in January after former CFO Michael LaJoice allegedly admitted to stealing more than $20 million from the organization, has merged into Michigan State University FCU, NCUA announced Friday.
Based in East Lansing, Mich., MSUFCU has 208,650 members and $3.03 billion in assets.
LaJoice recently waived a key hearing, and now his case moves to trial court. He faces 13 counts of embezzling more than $100,000 and one count of embezzling from a financial institution.
As CUToday.info reported here, LaJoice, 36, allegedly walked into the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in January and claimed to have embezzled more than $20 million over a 12-year period from the credit union. LaJoice, who was paid approximately $60,000, was the developer of a downtown project called Riverview for which he had paid $2.1 million to gain control of seven properties, was the owner of the Chasse Ballroom & Latin Dance Studio, and owned a home valued at $4 million.
Authorities said LaJoice stole the funds in $100,000 increments that were then put into personal accounts. Investigators said more than $800,000 in cash has been recovered from seven accounts and work continues to uncover any other funds.
At the time of the merger, Clarkston Brandon CCU served 8,536 members and had assets of $68.5 million.
The State of Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services placed Clarkston Brandon CCU into conservatorship on Jan. 13 and appointed NCUA as conservator. NCUA stated that the two agencies worked together to address issues affecting the credit union’s safety and soundness and determined that merging Clarkston Brandon into Michigan State University FCU was in the best interests of the members.