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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING
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To: E who wrote (16531)7/3/2002 10:34:22 AM
From: Bill  Read Replies (1) of 21057
 
Reasonable people recognize the difference in scope between Harken Energy and Worldcom/Enron. Hiding $10 million in operating losses pales in comparison to hiding $3.9 billion.

I have seen this Harken story bouncing around the same circles that ridiculously tie Bush financially to Bin Laden. Many of the facts change from story to story, but this is what is known. As a director, Bush filed a Form 3, disclosing his holdings. He filed a Form 144 announcing his intent to sell well before he sold. And he filed a Form 4 after he sold, disclosing his updated holdings. This is the form that was 34 weeks in coming, and thus late according to SEC guidelines. (I don't know how many weeks grace period they gave back then.)

Arthur Levitt and the Justice Dept could have tried to indict Bush in 1993 when Clinton was president, but he chose not to. It's called proportionality. Indicting people who send in Form 4s late is like indicting people who file taxes after April 15. A fine is the more appropriate incentive.

Anyway, back to Harken's losses. From what I understand, the company did not seek to hide its losses with the asset sale. It reported a profit and also reported the components of that profit (unlike Worldcom) including the asset sale. The SEC ruled that the operating loss could not be offset by the asset sale.

I don't know whether Bush did a crooked deed or not. My intuition tells me he didn't. But comparing Harken to Worldcom or Bush to Clinton is really a stretch, IMO.
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