YUMA, Ariz. – NCUA, which is managing a bulging real estate portfolio throughout the “sand states,” yesterday won title to an historic downtown property in a trustee sale that reverted to its lender, AEA FCU.
The Kress building is the latest effort by AEA, which has been run under NCUA conservatorship since December 2010, to recover some of the funds it lost through the fraudulent loans made by its former member business loan manager, William Liddle.
AEA acquired the property, as well as the personal property and liquor license for Top of the Kress, for an opening bid of $2.7 million.
The Kress, a historic building in downtown Yuma, was purchased in 2007 by Frank Ruiz through his entity, with AEA as the lender. Ruiz has pleaded guilty to paying Liddle $1 million in bribes to finance $58 million of MBLs that eventually went bad and cost the one-time $410-million credit union almost $20 million in losses.
Other high-profile properties taken over by AEA include the Yuma Fun Factory; the historic Lee Hotel in downtown Yuma; and properties owned by developer Todd Burch, which reverted to AEA in a trustee sale in February.
