A University of Iowa employee — now fired — improperly collected more than $943,000 for work done for his private firm with university equipment, according to a three-year special investigation released Wednesday.
State Auditor Rob Sand, whose office published the 304-page report, said he expects Iowa law enforcement agencies to pursue legal action against the former employee.
Brian Busch, a former UI engineering specialist and manager of the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Machine Shop, improperly collected $943,634.97 by contracting for services for a company he owned and completing the work in the Machine Shop from 2017 through 2021, according to the special audit.
Busch failed to disclose with the university that he owns D3Signtech, which was required under the UI Conflicts of Interest and Commitment policy, the audit said.
The UI said in a statement Wednesday said once it learned of possible improprieties by Busch, it conducted an investigation and then requested the audit from Sand’s office.
Busch was placed on paid leave in September 2021 after whistleblowers raised questions about his work. He was terminated Aug. 28 when the state audit was completed, according to the UI.
“The university needs to improve their conflict of interest policies. They also need to do a better job of verifying them,” Sand said Wednesday during a news conference in the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines.
ADVERTISING
Two more UI Machine Shop employees were put on paid leave as a result of the investigation, according to the university’s statement: William Crile was placed on paid leave Sept. 29, 2021; he left the university on July 17, 2023. And Spencer Kuhl was placed on paid leave on July 6, 2023; he was terminated on Aug. 2.
While on paid leave for three years, Busch’s salary was $83,153 a year. Crile’s annual salary during his two years of paid leave was $67,570, and Kuhl’s salary during his one year of paid leave was more than $85,000.
The UI is investigating “all potential avenues” to recoup wages paid to all three former employees, the university’s statement said.
Sand said his office worked on the investigation with UI police and a federal agency he declined to name. The audit states that Busch declined to meet with a detective.
“Mr. Busch stated he would consult his legal representation and provide an answer to the Detective. Mr. Busch did not return communication confirming to meet with the Detective with the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety,” the audit report said. “As a result, we did not attempt to interview Mr. Busch.”
Sand said Iowa’s statute of limitations for the wrongdoing he found is three years, meaning state law enforcement agencies have until the end of this year to file charges.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said her office is reviewing the report. An Iowa Attorney General's Office spokeswoman said the office reviews all reports it receives to determine whether further action needs to be taken.
Neither the Iowa Department of Public Safety nor its Division of Criminal Investigation — which were not involved in the investigation but were sent the audit report by Sand’s office — are involved with the case, a spokesman said.
The federal statute of limitations is five years, Sand said, meaning the investigating federal agency could also take action.
“If your focus is on accountability, the last thing you want to do is run into a situation where you’ve said, ‘OK, we’re just going to let this timeline lapse on the state side because it sounds like the feds will take it.’ You don't want to do that because you could end up in a situation where something changes and then all of a sudden there’s no accountability for it,” Sand said. “So we are getting this report out now because we do not want that state limitation to run before the report is released.”
The UI Physics and Astronomy Department’s Machine Shop is described on its website as “a source for custom part prototyping and machine part problem solving” with services that include “machining, fabricating, welding, design and precise measurement of mechanical parts and assemblies.”
The Machine Shop is designed to be financially self-sufficient, Sand said. It charges for the services it offers: $77 to $86 per hour for UI projects and $100 per hour for outside projects, according to the audit.
According to the audit, Busch would contract to take jobs through various outside entities and perform the work using Machine Shop. The investigation tracked 587 jobs that Busch completed using Machine Shop equipment.
According to the audit, Busch’s billing practices were first flagged by a UI employee in 2019, when Busch was ordered to repay the university $3,550 he had collected for his personal business, D3Signtech, for contract work through the online industrial parts marketplace Xometry using Machine Shop equipment.
A UI spokesman said at that point, a university review process uncovered the error and after the money was repaid, Busch was “an employee in good standing.”
“But … he retained employment, his future transactions obviously did not receive any additional scrutiny, and here we stand today with $950,000 that went into his pocket rather than going to the university,” Sand said.
The UI statement lays out steps taken to address the issues that were uncovered by the investigation and audit. According to UI:
“The University of Iowa is committed to managing its resources responsibly and expects all employees to follow the conflict of interest and purchasing policies outlined in the university’s policy manual,” UI’s statement says.
www.thegazette.com
State Auditor Rob Sand, whose office published the 304-page report, said he expects Iowa law enforcement agencies to pursue legal action against the former employee.
Brian Busch, a former UI engineering specialist and manager of the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Machine Shop, improperly collected $943,634.97 by contracting for services for a company he owned and completing the work in the Machine Shop from 2017 through 2021, according to the special audit.
Busch failed to disclose with the university that he owns D3Signtech, which was required under the UI Conflicts of Interest and Commitment policy, the audit said.
The UI said in a statement Wednesday said once it learned of possible improprieties by Busch, it conducted an investigation and then requested the audit from Sand’s office.
Busch was placed on paid leave in September 2021 after whistleblowers raised questions about his work. He was terminated Aug. 28 when the state audit was completed, according to the UI.
“The university needs to improve their conflict of interest policies. They also need to do a better job of verifying them,” Sand said Wednesday during a news conference in the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines.
ADVERTISING
Two more UI Machine Shop employees were put on paid leave as a result of the investigation, according to the university’s statement: William Crile was placed on paid leave Sept. 29, 2021; he left the university on July 17, 2023. And Spencer Kuhl was placed on paid leave on July 6, 2023; he was terminated on Aug. 2.
While on paid leave for three years, Busch’s salary was $83,153 a year. Crile’s annual salary during his two years of paid leave was $67,570, and Kuhl’s salary during his one year of paid leave was more than $85,000.
The UI is investigating “all potential avenues” to recoup wages paid to all three former employees, the university’s statement said.
Sand said his office worked on the investigation with UI police and a federal agency he declined to name. The audit states that Busch declined to meet with a detective.
“Mr. Busch stated he would consult his legal representation and provide an answer to the Detective. Mr. Busch did not return communication confirming to meet with the Detective with the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety,” the audit report said. “As a result, we did not attempt to interview Mr. Busch.”
Sand said Iowa’s statute of limitations for the wrongdoing he found is three years, meaning state law enforcement agencies have until the end of this year to file charges.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith said her office is reviewing the report. An Iowa Attorney General's Office spokeswoman said the office reviews all reports it receives to determine whether further action needs to be taken.
Neither the Iowa Department of Public Safety nor its Division of Criminal Investigation — which were not involved in the investigation but were sent the audit report by Sand’s office — are involved with the case, a spokesman said.
The federal statute of limitations is five years, Sand said, meaning the investigating federal agency could also take action.
“If your focus is on accountability, the last thing you want to do is run into a situation where you’ve said, ‘OK, we’re just going to let this timeline lapse on the state side because it sounds like the feds will take it.’ You don't want to do that because you could end up in a situation where something changes and then all of a sudden there’s no accountability for it,” Sand said. “So we are getting this report out now because we do not want that state limitation to run before the report is released.”
How it happened
The UI Physics and Astronomy Department’s Machine Shop is described on its website as “a source for custom part prototyping and machine part problem solving” with services that include “machining, fabricating, welding, design and precise measurement of mechanical parts and assemblies.”
The Machine Shop is designed to be financially self-sufficient, Sand said. It charges for the services it offers: $77 to $86 per hour for UI projects and $100 per hour for outside projects, according to the audit.
According to the audit, Busch would contract to take jobs through various outside entities and perform the work using Machine Shop. The investigation tracked 587 jobs that Busch completed using Machine Shop equipment.
According to the audit, Busch’s billing practices were first flagged by a UI employee in 2019, when Busch was ordered to repay the university $3,550 he had collected for his personal business, D3Signtech, for contract work through the online industrial parts marketplace Xometry using Machine Shop equipment.
A UI spokesman said at that point, a university review process uncovered the error and after the money was repaid, Busch was “an employee in good standing.”
“But … he retained employment, his future transactions obviously did not receive any additional scrutiny, and here we stand today with $950,000 that went into his pocket rather than going to the university,” Sand said.
The UI statement lays out steps taken to address the issues that were uncovered by the investigation and audit. According to UI:
- To ensure proper documentation and accounting, the Machine Shop updated its job intake and tracking procedures, recording jobs as they are assigned, in-progress, completed or deleted.
- UI will review its conflict of interest and employment leave of absence practices to determine if new rules or procedures are necessary to mitigate prolonged administrative leaves and protect university resources.
“The University of Iowa is committed to managing its resources responsibly and expects all employees to follow the conflict of interest and purchasing policies outlined in the university’s policy manual,” UI’s statement says.
Audit: Former UI employee pocketed $943K for jobs done on university equipment
A former worker in the University of Iowa’s Physics and Astronomy Machine Shop completed jobs for his personal business using university equipment, the audit says
www.thegazette.com
