CLEVELAND – The FBI launched a nationwide search for Alex Spirikaitis, CEO of Taupa Lithuanian CU, in connection with a fraud that sunk the $24-million credit union earlier this week.

WASHINGTON – A leading credit union executive urged lawmakers this afternoon to maintain a role for the federal government in whatever reform scheme they adopt for the secondary mortgage market, even as a House proposal would eventually phase out the government role.

PLEASANTON, Calif. – Patelco Credit Union said Erin Mendez, a senior executive with 35 years of experience in the financial services sector and other industries, has been named its new CEO.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont State Employees CU, the largest state chartered and only statewide credit union in Vermont, announced the planned retirement of Steve Post, who has served as president and CEO of the now $610 million credit union since 1990.

WASHINGTON – The Senate Banking Committee this morning vote to endorse former Oregon Senator Richard Metsger for the NCUA Board and sent the nomination on for a vote by the full Senate.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The NCUA Board is expected at next week’s meeting to charge credit unions around $825 million for its fourth annual corporate assessment, bringing the total cost of the corporate credit unions failures to almost $11 billion.

NORTH CANTON, Ohio – Diebold announced this morning it has partnered with mobile wallet provider Paydient to enable consumers to withdraw cash from ATMs using their smartphones.

ROARING SPRING, Penn. – Gene Biddle, CEO of Spring Mill Employees FCU until last month, died July 14 at age 78.

PLANO, Texas – InTouch CU, which recently acquired nearby Dr. Pepper Employees FCU, has applied to state regulators to serve the 19,000 employees of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and its subsidiaries.

NEEDLES, Calif. – Desert Communities FCU has moved into its new location, an old Bank of America building.

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – New leadership is temporarily in place at CES CU after the removal of Kelly Schermerhorn, president of the $125-million credit union.

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas CU Department on Wednesday said it will start telling state chartered credit unions their state CAMEL code beginning in September.

ATLANTA – First Data Corp., which continues to hemorrhage red ink from its 2007 leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is suspending 401(k) contributions to employees and replacing cash bonuses with stock as part of its new CEO’s strategy to return the processing giant to profitability.

WASHINGTON – A new analysis by Co-Ops for Change asserts that U.S. Central FCU’s losses are likely to be far less than projected.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union is proposing to settle a long-running antitrust probe regarding Visa and MasterCard by capping interchange fees on card transactions, which the Federal Reserve did for U.S. debit transactions a year ago.

LOS ANGELES – A federal judge today rejected claims by Standard & Poor’s that its boasts of its ratings impartiality were nothing more than public relations “puffery” aimed at but not to be relied on by investors like WesCorp FCU and Eastern Financial Florida CU to buy what turned out to be billions of dollars of faulty mortgage-backed securities that led to their failures.

SOLON, Ohio – The CEO of Taupa Lithuanian CU, being sought on fraud allegations, apparently escaped a stand-off with police and the FBI this morning and is now at large.

SOLON, Ohio -- The CEO of Taupa Lithuanian CU, who is being investigated in this week’s failure of the $24 million credit union, is refusing to surrender to police, prompting a standoff at his home here last night into this morning.

DENVER – Accenture, formerly known as Anderson Consulting, yesterday said it has agreed to acquire Mortgage Cadence – one year after Mortgage Cadence acquired Prime Alliance, provider of mortgage services for more than 1,900 credit unions.

MILWAUKIE, Ore. – Clackamas Community FCU has named Mary Greco, its executive vice president, as president and CEO of the $250-million credit union.