WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Jim Payne, head of Wilkes-Barre City Employees FCU, was found dead at his home Monday from a gunshot wound.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that the CU was a target of an ongoing corruption investigation, according to a published report. State police believe foul play was not involved in Payne's death.
Late last week the FBI served a subpoena on Wilkes-Barre City Employees FCU. Sean Quinn, director of the FBI's Scranton, Penn., office, acknowledged the corruption investigation, stating arrests would be coming. He did not say, though, if Payne, 50, was a target.
"I can tell you [Payne's death] is a very sad and regrettable incident, and I believe it is the byproduct of corruption," Quinn told The Scranton Times-Tribune. "I don't attribute it to the investigation, but I attribute it to corruption."
State police Lt. Richard Krawetz said troopers responded to a call to Payne's Bear Creek Twp. residence around 4 p.m., Monday. Troopers did not find any apparent suspicious circumstances in the death, according to Krawetz.
The $42 million-asset credit union had not lost money in the last four years, making an $81,091 profit in 2013. However, net income has declined steadily since 2010, when the institution made $345,698. Net worth stood at 12.3% at the end of 2013.
Quinn said the FBI considered the credit union as a "witness" and a "victim" in an ongoing criminal investigation, adding individual employees of the credit union were potential targets of the investigation. Payne was one of three employees at the CU.
