ODESSA, Texas – A state court has allowed First Basin CU to schedule depositions for representatives of several out-of-state credit unions who they say financed efforts to derail the credit union’s conversion to a mutual savings bank.
First Basin suspended its vote to convert to a savings bank last month amid allegations that its members were being called by someone spreading falsehoods about the conversion; including the possibility members would lose their deposits if the bank-switch went through.
The depositions are a precursor to a possible suit by the $125 million credit union against the National Center for Member Trust, an organization that has funded the opposition to several credit union conversions.
Deposition notices were issued this week to the National Center for Member Trust and to GTE FCU, North Carolina State Employees CU and Self Help CU, three credit unions that organized the Center. In addition, deposition notices were sent to three members of Save First Basin, a group of members opposing the switch of their credit union to a bank that was aided by the Center, sources told The Credit Union Journal.
Among the information being sought in the depositions is whether any of the opponents engaged in or hired a third party to call First Basin members and lobby them to vote against the conversion.
Letty Moreno, a leader of Save First Basin CU and someone who is being deposed, insisted immediately after the suspension of the vote that her group was not spreading the alleged falsehoods.
If the case ends in court it would be at least the seventh conversion to get tangled in the legal system.
