LOL.
Maybe he didn't, that's true! Maybe he really didn't notice what was going on while he was on the board of directors and audit committee of Harken Energy when the company masked $10 million in losses by reporting a profit on the sale of a subsidiary to a group of Harken insiders borrowing money from the company itself.
And maybe, just maybe, the fact that he sold nearly $850,000 of Harken stock shortly before its mounting debt was publicly disclosed wasn't insider trading at all! Maybe he didn't know about the mounting debt even though he was on the BOD and audit committee, and then, by a lucky coincidence, he just happened to sell $848,000 of the stock right before the info was released to the suckers!
That's true. Maybe in spite of the fact that if he was competent he should have known (given that he was on the audit committee and all), maybe he isn't competent, so had no clue that losses don't yield a profit! (Maybe his awesome "emotional intelligence" didn't kick in!)
I can almost believe that.
But... the insider trading... What does that suggest?
I guess you think, "Wow, what luck! Pure coincidence, that sale before the news got out of the crooked accounting, but lucky!"
I don't think it was luck:
Mr. Bush sold off two-thirds of his stake, for $848,000. Just for the record, that's about four times bigger than the sale that has Martha Stewart in hot water.
Oddly, though the law requires prompt disclosure of insider sales, he neglected to inform the S.E.C. about this transaction until 34 weeks had passed. An internal S.E.C. memorandum concluded that he had broken the law, but no charges were filed. This, Lazarus Long insists, had nothing to do with the fact that his father was president.
nytimes.com
(Oh, okay, I admit it, I substituted 'Lazarus Long' for 'everyone'! ~ I just couldn't resist!)
(Why the hell is Bush saying how outrageous WorldCom is, btw?) |
