Boeing Wichita CU replaces funds unknowingly misdirected by investment agent

<p>WICHITA, Kan. – Thirty members of Boeing Wichita Credit Union may have had some of their funds “inappropriately directed” by a contract agent licensed through a third party broker/dealer. Gary Regoli, Boeing’s president/CEO said approximately $1.9 million were misdirected by the agent licensed through SII Investments, Inc. of Appleton, Wis. The account irregularities were discovered on Dec. 21 when a member contacted the credit union after noticing discrepancies in her statements, Regoli said. In almost every case, the contract agent misdirected funds after they left the credit union’s control. Boeing, which has $290 million in assets, has since replaced all assets lost including interest through bond coverage and other resources Regoli said. For more than seven years, the contract agent, who has not been identified, had worked in a separate office at Boeing’s headquarters. After noting the disparities, Regoli said the FBI was contacted and the credit union immediately terminated its association with the contract agent. SII Investments also terminated its relationship with the contract agent. Because the case has been turned over to federal authorities, Regoli could not say where the money eventually ended up or what penalties or jail time the agent may face. At press time, Regoli said as far he knew, none of Boeing’s 45,000 members had closed their accounts as a result of the incident. Since then, “we’ve had half-dozen calls, mostly from those who wanted to verify account balances,” he added, and at least “one member even called wanting to still do investments through us in spite of this.”Despite the severity of the missing funds, Boeing’s board of director took the proactive approach, sending letters to all of its members explaining the facts surrounding what happened. “We believe that being proactive and straightforward with our membership regarding important issues is tantamount to maintaining the strong relationship we enjoy,” the January 17th letter read. Regoli said the credit union “enjoys a higher-than-average capital-to-asset ratio,” and has always been financially sound. “This is certainly a case of violated trust,” Regoli said. “We have a very successful investment program through our CUSO.” SII Investments Inc., a NASD/SIPC-registered broker-dealer and investment advisor, is an affiliate of Jackson National Life, one of the nation’s largest financial services firms with $45 billion in assets, according to the firm’s Web site. It has 640 representatives serving 150,000 customers in 49 states. -</p> <p>[email protected]</p>