DETROIT—Michael LaJoice, the former CFO at Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union, has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court here to embezzling more than $18 million from the CU, according to reports.
LaJoice, 37, faces federal and state charges for the crime he committed while he served as the chief financial officer of the credit union.
As CUToday.info reported here, LaJoice in January allegedly walked into the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and claimed to have embezzled $20 million over a 12-year period from the Fenton, Mich.-based credit union.
LaJoice’s actions led to the CU being conserved by state regulators in January and then merged into Michigan State University FCU in March.
Throughout the case a big question has been why obvious red flags were never noticed. LaJoice, who was paid approximately $60,000 annually by the credit union, was the developer of a downtown project called Riverview for which he had paid $2.1 million to gain control of seven properties. He also owned a home valued at more than $1 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.
LaJoice was charged with 13 counts of embezzling more than $100,000, a felony than can carry up to 20 years in prison on conviction, and one count of embezzling from a financial institution.