Source: Office of United States Attorneys
A convicted-felon-turned-CFO who defrauded his company was sentenced today to more than four years in federal prison and ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton.
Jon Robert Rush, 56, of Keller, TX, pleaded guilty in April 2024 to wire fraud. He was sentenced Wednesday to 51 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, who also ordered him to pay $1,062,459.49 in restitution to his victims.
Mr. Rush was employed first as the Vice President, and subsequently Chief Financial Officer, of a logistics and transportation company located in the DFW area. The company arranges for the transportation of freight and cargo for the military, defense contractors, disaster relief organizations, and others.
According to court documents, from 2016 to 2020, Mr. Rush misappropriated the company’s funds for his own benefit and misdirected funds to pay off his debt.
As part of the scheme, Mr. Rush transferred funds from the company’s bank accounts to bank accounts he owned or controlled, then he recorded these transfers in the company’s internal accounting software to conceal the fraud. Mr. Rush disguised the monetary transfers by using the names of vendors with whom company routinely did business.
At sentencing, the Court found that losses relevant to the offense extended beyond those just to Mr. Rush’s employer. The majority shareholders provided statements that they were faced with “almost insurmountable debt” to keep the company afloat, employee layoffs, and financial instability that resulted in the closing of one of the related companies.
Mr. Rush was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit counterfeit check fraud and wire fraud in 1994. At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, the Court noted that his prior conviction was a factor in the decision to deny a downward variance.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dimitri Rocha prosecuted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Chapman is handling the restitution.