PHOENIX – A jury Friday found William Liddle, former head of member business loans at Yuma-based AEA FCU, and his wife Rhonda Liddle, guilty of a massive fraud that cost the one-time $410 million credit union as estimated $58 million in losses and pushed it to the brink.
William Liddle was found guilty of 54 counts, including accepting more than $1 million in bribes to approve millions of dollars in MBLs that eventually went bad. His wife was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy charges.
Another 14 counts, for misapplication of financial institution funds were dismissed at the request of the prosecution.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 21.
The MBLs scheme forced NCUA to take AEA, originally the credit union for the Arizona Education Association, under conservatorship in December 2010. NCUA reported last month that AEA now has negative net worth of $14 million and only remains afloat because of a $20 million emergency loan.
