Attorney Larry Joseph Busch Jr., of Anthem, Arizona, a co-conspirator in the so-called "Prime Bank" multimillion dollar investment fraud, has been reciprocally disbarred following an Oct. 5 Missouri Supreme Court order.
Busch was disbarred in Arizona following a judgment of disbarment issued by the Supreme Court in that state Jan. 17. The Arizona high court also ordered Busch to pay $1,644 in costs and expenses.
Busch, then 44, was arrested Jan. 6, 2014, by the Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff’s Office on an outstanding warrant following a Baldwin County, Alabama grand jury indictment the previous November, according to a news release issued by the Alabama Securities Commission about a week after Busch's arrest. Indictments against Busch included two counts of securities fraud and single counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and employing a device, scheme or artifice to defraud, according to the press release.
One of more than a dozen co-conspirators, Busch was accused of using his attorney trust account in the investment fraud with Richard James Tucker, of Robertsdale, Alabama, and activities associated with Synergy Finance Group LLC, according to the news release and news reports of the time.
Tucker had been convicted of 13 criminal counts in the investment fraud associated with Synergy the same month the indictments against Busch were handed down, according to the news release. Tucker later was sentenced to two years in jail and to pay more than $2.4 million in restitution.
Busch's law license was reciprocally suspended following a September 2015 Missouri Supreme Court, which itself followed his suspension following his suspension order handed down by the Arizona Supreme Court the previous December.
Busch entered a guilty plea in past April in Baldwin County Circuit Court to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, according to a statement issued by 28th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Robert Wilters. Busch was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, to be served concurrently with a related one-year sentence Busch already is serving in Arizona, according to Wilter's statement.
Cases against Busch and other co-conspirators were the result of the coordination of multiple investigations by Alabama, Arizona, federal and international authorities, according to Wilter's statement.