The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbiahas asked a D.C. federal judge to sentence Nicholas J. Bush, formerpresident of the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA), to a”significant period of incarceration” for embezzling about $3million from the producer group over a 16-year period.

In papers filed in U.S. District Court, prosecutors haverecommended that Bush be imprisoned for a term ranging from 33 to41 months, which is the maximum term they can seek for Bush’s typeof crime under the federal sentencing guidelines. He is due toappear before Judge Emmet G. Sullivan today (Oct. 25) for formalsentencing on one count of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion,both felonies. Bush plead guilty to the charges last July and wasremanded to a halfway correctional facility in southeast D.C.,where he has been ever since. The Bureau of Prisons will decidewhere Bush will serve his sentence.

For some, 33 to 41 months isn’t enough. One Houston natural gasworker urged the court to give Bush “a minimum of ten years beforebeing eligible for parole.” Anything less would cause “people likemyself [to] be extremely disappointed. He stole so much money, didso much damage…..His crime was not simply stealing from ‘bigoil,’ he stole from the roustabouts, loggers, and other commonpeople who make up the industry,” he wrote in a letter to JudgeSullivan. The same sentiment was echoed in a letter by NGSAemployees: “Given the damage Nick Bush has caused, leniency seemsinappropriate.” For the most part, prosecutors and the JudgeSullivan are prevented from seeking and meting out a greater termfor Bush under the federal sentencing guidelines, but there havebeen cases in the past where judges have deviated from theguidelines.

In Bush’s case, prosecutors are seeking the maximum term allowedbecause of the large amount of money he stole from NGSA and becausehe abused his position of trust to carry out the fraud. Theyestimate he embezzled more than $2.5 million but less than $5million in the bogus consulting scheme that he carried out between1983 and 1999, while Bush and his attorneys contend the amount wasconsiderably less. Prosecutors cited a number of instances in whichhe abused his position of trust. As a result, his actions haveaffected “a large number of people both inside and out of NGSA,”they said in the court papers addressing the sentencing issue.

“In order to avoid exceeding his budget, which was strained bythe large amounts of money that Bush was taking for himself, Bushkept the salaries for the staff artificially low, terminated otheremployees without cause, and refused to hire replacement workers,adding burdens on existing employees,” the court documents said.Former NGSA employees, such as Charlotte LeGates, have related the”personal hardships visited upon them” by Bush, while currentemployees, such as John Sharp, have written to the court abouttheir “tarnished reputation[s].” LeGates, who had handled publicrelations at NGSA, told the court that she left the associationbecause “Nick’s lies to me became so outrageous and manipulativethat I could no longer represent him externally without feelingcomplicit in them.”

In addition to “sullied” personal reputations, Bush causedconsiderable damage to the association, some of which isirreparable. NGSA “itself has lost [the] financial support of gascompanies, through either reduced contributions or refusal torejoin the association. Bush may have even damaged NGSA’sreputation and undermined its effectiveness in its mission toinfluence legislation,” according to the court papers.

Bush’s attorneys have asked the court to consider a lesser term,basing the request on his “extraordinary” efforts to makerestitution to NGSA. But prosecutors contend Bush’s reimbursementhasn’t been all that “exceptional.” In fact, “it was only after hewas sued by NGSA that Bush agreed to return money to thevictim…..NGSA obtained a pre-judgment attachment of real estateand an injunction prohibiting Bush from disgorging his assets. Bushthen quickly agreed to give NGSA the house on Palisades Lane N.W.”

Using proceeds from the sales of two homes, his pension plansand other assets, Bush has agreed to return to NGSA a total ofabout $874,000, which is less than 30% of the embezzled $3 million.

Prosecutors contend Bush has been unable to acceptresponsibility for his crime, which they believe further justifiestheir request for the harsh penalty. Even now, he still continuesto deny responsibility for the majority of phony restaurantinvoices that he reportedly submitted, and he has refused to admitto any fraud relating to his business expense reports, prosecutorssaid. They also noted Bush has continued to dip into NGSAresources. “After he entered a plea of guilty to mail fraud and taxevasion and after he was remanded to Hope Village [correctionalfacility], Bush used NGSA’s telephone calling card number to callvarious people, including his attorneys.”

Bush initially told NGSA attorneys that his embezzlementactivities started when he needed money to support his “destitute”parents who were in an assisted-care facility.But “the truth [is]he used only 8% of the embezzled money for parental expenses.During this same time, Bush spent over $100,000 in jewelry,including buying one ring from Tiffany’s for $29,000, and [hespent] up to $150,000 in furnishing the Palisades Lane house. Thus,he spent as much money on just these two items – jewelry andfurniture – as he did on his parents’ care,” the court papers said.

Bush said he began incurring “substantial costs” for his agingparents in 1991. But prosecutors pointed out that by that time hehad been carrying out his embezzlement scheme for eight years and,in fact, had stolen almost $800,000 from NGSA. Even after both ofBush’s parents died by 1995, he continued to steal money from theassociation for another four years, “until he was caught in January1999.”

Susan Parker

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