ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The CEO of First Financial CU last week filed suit against credit union trade publication Credit Union Times claiming libel and defamation in a story last year detailing a member business loan made to three local developers who were subsequently indicted for bank fraud and money laundering in the case.
In his suit, Ben Heyward claims the article “Commercial Development Stains New Mexico CU’s Balance Sheet” by David Morrison “made untrue and defamatory statements” and was “based upon statements of anonymous persons and alleged ‘critics’ which were untrue, false, and inaccurate and would have been shown as such if CU Times had performed due diligence and engaged in a reasonable investigation of the matter.”
The article, published in the April 6, 2011, edition of the weekly trade publication, alleged that Heyward was solely responsible for the loan, for which the credit union will take a big loss, and quotes several anonymous sources putting the blame on the CEO’s “cowboy style” of leadership, but does not quote anyone by name. “None of the critics,” said the article, “which included both current and former credit union employees, would speak for the record, citing either having moved on from the organization or Heyward’s inclination to fire executives who have disagreed with him. But all charged that Heyward’s determination to make unilateral decisions and a lack of attention to detail led to the Copper Avenue loan and a significant number of poor loans.”
The article cites anonymous sources and critics, “however, the CU Times has refused to divulge these anonymous materials and identify the respective critics’ name(s) and the specific information provided by them, even though Ben Heyward made due demand for the aforementioned information and documents,” says the suit.
The libel suit claims: “The Credit Union Times demonstrated a clear lack of due diligence and reasonable investigation in publishing the article,” which it says was “malicious and defamatory” to Heyward.
“As a result of the false and untrue statements in the article, Mr. Heyward has had to explain to many clients, potential clients, and fellow colleagues about the inaccuracies of the allegations in the article,” says the suit.
Credit Union Times representatives declined to comment on the libel suit. “Actually, we’re not allowed to [comment],” said Tom Greve, publisher of the paper, Friday. A lawyer for the company did not return a phone call seeking comment.
