U.S. MORTGAGE FRAUD PLEAS ON TAP
NEWARK, N.J.-The former servicing manager of U.S. Mortgage Corp/CU National Mortgage has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud CUs and Fannie Mae in the $140 million mortgage scandal. Plus, federal prosecutors were reported to be negotiating guilty please with at least three more executives.
FACEBOOK 'FRIEND' IS ANYTHING BUT
SEATTLE-A 26-year-old fugitive from a credit union car scheme was extradited from Mexico where he was living the highlife after the FBI lured him out in the open using his Facebook page. A federal agent, in fact, saw the suspect on Facebook and induced him to "friend" the agent, who then tracked him to Cancun.
LAKE MICHIGAN, CITIZENS MERGE
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.-Lake Michigan CU, the state's third-largest credit union, has agreed to acquire ailing Citizens CU and four Kalamazoo branches. The merger, if approved by Citizens CU's members, would give Lake Michigan five branches in the Kalamazoo area-a market the $1.9-billion CU entered last year with the opening of a small office.
'KITTY-LITTER' ROBBER PLEADS GUILTY
ST. PAUL, Minn.-A Brooklyn Park man pleaded guilty to robbing a Minnesota Building Trades FCU branch of more than $21,000 in October while armed with gun that he pulled from a kitty-litter bucket.
MICH. CU, BANK FIGHT OVER NAME
ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Michigan First CU, a thriving credit union based in nearby Lathrup Village, recently filed a trademark infringement suit against First Michigan Bancorp., just days after the single-office, Troy-based bank entered the credit union's markets with an acquisition of failed Port Huron-based Citizens First Bank from the FDIC.
BANK FAILURE RATE SURPASSES '09
WASHINGTON-Regulators closed banks in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri and Michigan, making a total of 72 failures so far this year, exceeding the pace of last year when 140 banks went down. The most recent failures were: Midwest Bank and Trust, a $3.2 billion institution based in Elmwood Park, Ill.; Southwest Community Bank, a $97 million Springfield, Mo., institution; New Liberty Bank, a $110 million bank in Plymouth, Minn.; and, Satilla Community Bank, a $136 million Saint Mary's, Ga., bank.
SILVER STATE SCHOOLS TRIMS LOSSES
LAS VEGAS-Troubled Silver State Schools CU, one of several Las Vegas credit unions reporting big losses last year, cut its red ink for the first quarter to $8.5 million, from almost $51 million for 2009.
CU BACKS HOTEL DEVELOPMENT
WARREN, Ohio-Seven Seventeen Credit Union said it has agreed to lend almost $2.6 million to a $5.15 million Hotel Inn Express project at the Interstate 80 exchange in nearby Liberty.
