Silverado Savings and Loan Bush settled in the
Denver area and became a member of the board of directors of Denver-based
Silverado Savings and Loan from 1985 to 1988 during the
S&L crisis of the 1980s. Since his father
George H. W. Bush was
Vice President of the United States, his role in Silverado's failure was a focal point of publicity. The U.S.
Office of Thrift Supervision investigated Silverado's failure and determined that Bush had engaged in numerous "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." Although Bush was not indicted on criminal charges, a
civil action was brought against him and the other Silverado directors by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; it was eventually
settled out of court, with Bush paying $50,000 as part of the settlement. A friend who also donated funds to the
Republican Party set up a fund to help defer costs Neil incurred in his S&L legal defense.
Ignite! Learning In 1999, Bush co-founded
Ignite! Learning, an educational software corporation. Bush has said he started
Austin-based Ignite! Learning because of his learning difficulties in middle school and those of his son, Pierce. The software uses
multiple intelligence methods to provide varying types of content to appeal to multiple learning styles. To fund Ignite!, Bush raised $23 million from US investors, including his parents, as well as businessmen from
Taiwan, Japan,
Kuwait, the
British Virgin Islands and the
United Arab Emirates, according to documents filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Documented investors included
Kuwaiti company head Mohammed Al Saddah, and Chinese computer executive Winston Wong, as well as the late Russian billionaire expatriate
Boris Berezovsky, and Berezovsky's partner Badri Patarkatsishvili. Bush's relationship with the late controversial oligarch
Boris Berezovsky, a political enemy of Russian President
Vladimir Putin who at the time of his death had been under indictment for fraud in Russia and an applicant for
asylum in the United Kingdom, Bush met with Berezovsky in
Latvia. The meeting caused tension between that country and Russia due to Berezovsky's fugitive status. There had also been speculation in the English language
Moscow Times that the relationship may cause tension in U.S.-Russian bilateral relations, "especially since Putin had taken pains to build a personal relationship with the U.S. president," George Bush. In 2002, Neil Bush commended his brother, George, for his efforts on education as president, but he questioned the emphasis on constant testing to keep federal aid coming to public schools: "I share the concerns of many that if our system is driven around assessments, pencil-and-paper tests that test a kid's ability to memorize stuff, I would say that reliance threatens to institutionalize bad teaching practices." As of October 2006, over 13 US school districts (out of over 14,000 school districts nationwide) have used federal funds made available through the
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to buy Ignite's portable learning centers at $3,800 apiece. A December 2003 Style section article in
The Washington Post reported that Bush's salary from Ignite! was $180,000 per year. When asked in January 2004 about the stock trades, Bush contrasted the
capital gains he reported in 1999 and 2000 with the capital losses on Kopin stock he reported ($287,722 in all) in 2001. In 2001 Kopin joined a broad decline in high-tech stock valuations.
Speaking engagements Bush has often been invited to speak to audiences overseas. Bush says he has courtesy visits with world leaders but has no plans to wade into
foreign policy. "Oftentimes because of my father's goodwill, and because of the president being who he is, people might extend an invitation, and it's enjoyable for me," Bush said. "Some of these folks are family friends." Speaking at a Saudi Arabian economic forum in January 2002, Bush referred to growing
anti-American sentiment in Arab countries and said the two peoples must communicate better. He said the Arab P.R. machine is not as good as Israel's. Bush frequently travels to the Middle East, Europe and Asia to negotiate deals and raise capital for various businesses. According to court filings from his divorce, in 2000 he was paid $1.3 million for such work. This includes $642,500 as a commission for introducing an Asian investor to the owners of an American high-tech company. Bush serves as co-chairman of a company called Crest Investment. Crest pays him $60,000 a year to provide miscellaneous consulting services. In 2001, Neil Bush incorporated an investment firm called LehmanBush with veteran China lawyer Edward Lehman. ==Philanthropy and charity involvement, volunteer work==