Thursday, October 13, 2005
SEC Gets Serious in Frist Stock Sale Investigation
The Washington Post is reporting that Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has received a subpoena to turn over personal records and documents as the SEC steps up its investigation of his sale of stock in the company founded and controlled by his family.
After fighting for years to hold the stock, saying it was not a conflict of interest, suddenly Frist changed his mind and sold the stock, saying he wanted to avoid a conflict of interest. By coincidence, he expects us to believe, the company within days of his sale reported it would not meet its growth targets and the stock dropped significantly.
By selling his stock in the family company ahead of the release of bad news, Frist avoided a big loss. Hmmm. Selling to avoid a loss. That's exactly what Martha Stewart did. Her lies about it put her in jail.
Interestingly, Frist admitted being "contacted" by the SEC, but he failed to mention receiving a subpoena. According to Senate rules, since the subpoena deals only with personal records and nothing related to his official work in the Senate, Frist doesn't have to disclose it to his fellow Senators. (Does he think they won't read about it in the papers?)
Frist is yet another example of the Republican culture of corruption. America deserves better.
After fighting for years to hold the stock, saying it was not a conflict of interest, suddenly Frist changed his mind and sold the stock, saying he wanted to avoid a conflict of interest. By coincidence, he expects us to believe, the company within days of his sale reported it would not meet its growth targets and the stock dropped significantly.
By selling his stock in the family company ahead of the release of bad news, Frist avoided a big loss. Hmmm. Selling to avoid a loss. That's exactly what Martha Stewart did. Her lies about it put her in jail.
Interestingly, Frist admitted being "contacted" by the SEC, but he failed to mention receiving a subpoena. According to Senate rules, since the subpoena deals only with personal records and nothing related to his official work in the Senate, Frist doesn't have to disclose it to his fellow Senators. (Does he think they won't read about it in the papers?)
Frist is yet another example of the Republican culture of corruption. America deserves better.
