Connecticut's Attorney General has turned over the Matthew Yussman case to the FBI, New Britain Police Department Police Chief James P. Wardell said Wednesday.
In February, Achieve Financial Credit Union CFO Matthew Yussman claimed that two men invaded his Bristol, Connecticut home, strapped a bomb to his chest and forced him to rob his own credit union.
However, the home invaders were never found, the bomb turned out to be fake and the credit union's New Britain branch was not robbed on the morning of Feb. 23.
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"The transfer has been one of jurisdiction," Chief Wardell said. "The state attorney's office has transferred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office. This was discussed for many weeks and is supported by all involved. The federal prosecutors have Grand Jury authority and subpoena power. The State does not. Our investigators will continue to assist our federal partners as required. Nothing has changed in that regard."
The police investigation, however, yielded no charges.
Search warrant documents and CU Times interviews with police investigators reveal Yussman failed a lie detector test and stopped cooperating with police. Documents also showed Yussman and his mother, who lives with him, made unusual statements about the two suspects who occupied their home for more than seven hours.
Yussman and his mother made bizarre statements, including that the home invaders were well spoken and polite; brought her cookies, lunch meat and juice; and vacuumed the house before leaving to carry out the robbery.
The suspects also initially requested that Yussman steal $4.2 million from the credit union but then settled for $1 million, according to the search warrant documents.
Investigators confiscated from Yussman's home a laptop, routers, telephone handsets, a custom-made computer tower in an Antec case, a vacuum cleaner, ginger ale cans, trash bags, duct tape, bolts, washers, keys, a Tupperware container and clothes. Police also took DNA swabs from 17 items, according to search warrant documents.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
