National Credit Union Administration Board v. Alan Kaufman — 2d Cir. (Oct 23, 2026)

No. 25-1665 Argued October 23, 2026 Published October 25, 2026

The Second Circuit hears Alan Kaufman’s civil appeal involving Melrose Credit Union, where he served as chief executive. The dispute concerns rent-free housing and home-purchase financing he received from a major borrower while approving loans for that borrower’s companies, and vendor-paid vacations while the credit union bought advertising. A criminal jury convicted him of accepting illegal gratuities. The National Credit Union Administration Board, acting as Melrose’s liquidating agent, then sued him for breaching his duty of loyalty. The civil case seeks to recover compensation paid during his disloyalty. The district court granted partial summary judgment, deciding claims without a civil trial because it found no genuine dispute requiring one. Kaufman is appealing that ruling. New York’s faithless servant doctrine can require a disloyal employee to return compensation for the period of disloyalty. Compensation paid to that employee can itself satisfy the harm element of a fiduciary-duty claim, without proof of a separate out-of-pocket loss. That is different from saying every claim requires no harm. Another issue is collateral estoppel: when issues necessarily resolved in an earlier case cannot be litigated again. Kaufman will challenge the civil court’s reliance on his criminal case. That does not mean every question of civil liability or damages was automatically decided by the criminal verdict. He also invokes Snyder, which held that a particular federal law concerning state and local officials does not criminalize gratuities for past official acts. His conviction involved a different bank statute, so Snyder does not itself settle this civil case. Finally, Article Three standing requires a concrete injury traceable to the defendant and likely to be redressed by the court. That constitutional requirement is distinct from the state-law remedy of returning compensation. Representing himself, Kaufman will ask the panel to reverse.

National Credit Union Administration Board v. Alan Kaufman (No. 25-1665) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, argued October 23, 2026.

Sources

Argument audio — official Second Circuit original:https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/audio/25-1665.mp3

Case and argument date — official Second Circuit recordings search, October 23, 2026:https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/oral_arguments.html

Civil evidence, claims and proposed relief — original January 29, 2025 report and recommendation, document 43; pages 1–39 and 47–48 reviewed, not the later district-court judgment:https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCOURTS-nyed-1_23-cv-01061/pdf/USCOURTS-nyed-1_23-cv-01061-0.pdf

Earlier criminal case background — original DOJ release, September 29, 2021; actual browser-indexed text reviewed:https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-ceo-melrose-credit-union-sentenced-nearly-4-years-prison-violating-bank-bribery

Appeal, self-representation and June 13, 2025 judgment — case-specific appellate docket reproduced by Justia:https://dockets.justia.com/docket/circuit-courts/ca2/25-1665

Compensation and fiduciary-duty harm — Yukos Capital v. Feldman, original opinion, selected sections II.C–D:https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/19-1109/19-1109-2020-10-08.html

Summary judgment without civil trial — Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(a):https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_56

Different public-official gratuity statute — Snyder v. United States, majority introduction, section I and selected II.A:https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/23-108

Separate financial-institution statute — 18 U.S.C. § 215(a), (c):https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/215

Injury, causation and redressability — Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, majority section II:https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/504/555

0:00Introduction