Investment Banker Sentenced for Fraud

A Pacific Palisades investment banker was sentenced Monday to 51 months in federal prison for bilking clients out of $1.3 million.

Benjamin Bush, former owner of Ben Bush Investment Management Inc., also was ordered to make nearly $1.2 million in restitution to eight victims who suffered most of the losses.

Bush, 53, pleaded guilty in May to one money laundering count and admitted that he laundered the funds he bilked from his clients.

In the early 1990s, Bush convinced dozens of people to invest with him, based on false documentation regarding his investment performance history, Assistant U.S. Atty. Barbara Scheper said.

After they agreed to invest, Bush recommended that his clients buy stock in certain small companies, then directed them to send payment to bank accounts he controlled, Scheper said.

But Bush never bought the stocks. He spent the money on vacations, sports equipment, computers and tickets to Los Angeles Kings hockey games.