On June 21, 2024, a PSCU employee discovered $340,000 in cash in its vault had been replaced with fake currency from “propmoney.com,” a California company that makes fake money, which looks real for film and television productions.

A PSCU supervisor identified Nurse as a potential suspect because his primary role was managing and balancing money in the vault.
Prosecutors stated in court documents that he concealed his actions from security cameras, auditors, and his colleagues by placing the bundles of the real money in the front and back of the bundles of fake cash.

“This was not a victimless crime. Aside from the monetary cost to the insurance company and the credit union having to cover its deductible, the intangible costs here are significant,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo to Judge Molloy. “Nurse’s actions harmed the credit union’s reputation, both professional and with its customers. Nurse also damaged morale within the credit union, and created substantial extra work for his former colleagues trying to mitigate that harm. Nurse’s gambling addiction explains his actions but does not justify or excuse his serious criminal conduct here. This factor weighs in favor of incarceration within the guidelines.”

Prosecutors asked Judge Molloy to sentence Nurse to 15 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

Prosecutors said financial information from the Grey Wolf Peak Casino in Missoula showed that from March 2024 to May 2024, Nurse funneled more than $56,000 in cash into the gambling establishment and cashed out slightly more than $8,000. Additionally, over seven months, Wells Fargo filed nine Currency Transaction Reports for cash deposits into Nurse’s bank account, each exceeding more than $10,000 and totaling $117,751.

Records from Prop Money, Inc., showed Nurse made nine purchases for a total of $410,000 in fake currency. The prop cash was delivered to a post office box in Nurse’s name in Missoula. PSCU was later informed that approximately $50,000 in fake money had been received by the Federal Reserve from the credit union.

Nurse’s lawyer acknowledged his client struggles with a gambling addiction, as well as depression and anxiety, in a sentencing memo to Judge Molloy. The attorney also noted “Ean” Nurse understands the seriousness of this offense and has demonstrated this by his acceptance and remorse.

“Ean has sought and obtained treatment for his gambling addiction and will continue to seek and obtain such treatment for the foreseeable future,” Nurse’s lawyer, Shandor S. Badaruddin, wrote in his sentencing memo. “Mr. Nurse’s letters (from his friends and relatives) indicate that his gambling addiction and poor financial management explains why he deviated from his character and engaged in the acts giving rise to the offense of conviction. Ean, his spouse, and his family are all working together to avoid any possibility that the same or similar circumstances will arise again in the future.”

Contact Peter Strozniak at [email protected].