"Money laundering is my business..."

With her former employer staring at her in a Columbus courtroom, the government's star witness in an earlier fraud trial recounted how she was approached to change testimony against her ex-boss for a $1 million dollar payoff.

Sherry Gibson, former executive vice president of compliance at National Century Financial Enterprises Inc., took the stand Tuesday afternoon in the federal witness tampering trial of her former boss, Lance Poulsen. The Justice Department has alleged Poulsen tried to bribe Gibson to forget testimony she was asked to give against him in a securities fraud trial stemming from the collapse of National Century.

Poulsen, 64, of Port Charlotte, Fla., was a co-founder and the former chief executive of National Century, a Dublin company that provided financing to health-care providers by buying their accounts receivable at a discount and packaging them as asset-backed bonds for sale to investors.

National Century fell into bankruptcy in 2002 after what the government said was years-long fraud that ended with $3 billion unaccounted. Gibson told jurors Tuesday she was at the center of that fraud and spent almost three years in prison for her crime, as well as giving up her entire net worth of $420,000 to the government.

After she completed her sentence in 2007, Gibson said she was contacted last June by Karl Demmler, a longtime friend of hers and Poulsen's. Demmler, Gibson told the jury, wanted her to know Poulsen knew she was out of prison and wanted "to make her whole."

Gibson said she construed the offer as a bribe, so she contacted her attorney and the government, which asked her to cooperate in an investigation. After refusing, Gibson relented and agreed to wear a hidden microphone to record meetings with Demmler. Jury members Tuesday heard excerpts from one of those meetings.

During a get-together last June 29 at an east Columbus Don Pablo's restaurant, Demmler told Gibson that Poulsen would make her whole if she would forget during her testimony about any fraud that took place at National Century.

Later in the conversation, Demmler said that if Poulsen paid Gibson $1 million, Demmler could set her up with an offshore account for a 10 percent fee.

"Money laundering is my business on private contracts," he said. "It's nobody's business but mine."

When Gibson raised concerns she would violate her plea agreement with the government by lying, Demmler told her that wouldn't be necessary.

"Don't remember," Demmler said. "You don't have to lie. You're not lying. He's not asking you to lie."

Demmler also suggested Gibson watch "The Godfather," a reference to scene in "The Godfather Part II" where a witness forgets testimony he was expected to give.

The government has accused Poulsen and Demmler of one count each of conspiracy to obstruct justice, witness tampering and witness tampering by influencing testimony. They have denied the charges.

In a recently completed trial, Gibson testified that Poulsen directed a scheme to advance millions of dollars to companies in which he and two other National Century executives had ownership stakes, often without obtaining accounts receivable as collateral. She also testified Poulsen directed her and others to doctor company records to hide funding shortfalls.