FENTON, Mo.–In the months before he was arrested, the former CU CFO here who allegedly embezzled as much as $20 million used those funds to significantly overpay for a number of properties.
Local real estate experts said that Michael LaJoice, the former CFO at Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union who remains in prison, told the Detroit News that he paid up to three times the value of a number of properties he acquired. Prosecutors have now placed liens on several of those properties, all of which were related to a planned $31-million, mixed-use development that was to break ground here this Spring.
The Detroit News quoted Fenton, Mich., City Manager Lynn Markland as saying city tax records showed LaJoice paid well over the assessed value for four properties that border his planned six-story project on a 3.3 acre site. “He was very secretive and didn’t share about what he planned to do until he obtained the properties and he bought up several. He paid cash for them,” Markland was quoted for saying.
Records show that LaJoice paid $1.2 million for the site, which has since bulldozed, and then spent an additional $997,000 for four houses and $269,000 for a commercial building show. In most cases the price paid was two to three times higher than the assessed values of similar properties. Markland told The Detroit News he is unsure why other properties—also bought for more than market value—were purchased, but theorized that LaJoice planned a second phase of his Riverview project.
LaJoice was arrested after he turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and allegedly told authorities that he had stolen $20 million from the credit union over a 12-year period. He remains in jail facing 14 different charges, with authorities saying they expect to file additional charges. Authorities said they have found $800,000 in seven accounts controlled by LaJoice, and believe there are others. LaJoice earned approximately $65,000 annually at his job.
The credit union has since been placed under conservatorship by the Michigan Department of Financial Institutions, which turned control over to NCUA. It continues to operate normally.
Michael Manley, the attorney representing LaJoice, told the Detroit News, “I think he wants to make things right and that’s why he walked into the sheriff’s department in the first place. After talking with him and investigators, I feel there is sufficient reason to ask for a forensic examination on whether he understands the charges against him and to determine if is able to aid in his own defense.”
A probable cause hearing is scheduled for today in Clarkston District Court. If found guilty, LaJoice could face up to 20 years in prison.