Frist - Timing Is Everything (But Not To The AP)
Tom Maguire
Just One Minute
Sen. Bill Frist, addressing the questions about his sale of HCA stock, expands the timeline. Although he gave instructions to sell the stock in June 2005, one month prior to a 9% drop, he claims to have begun the process in April. If so, that should make an insider-trading charge more difficult (but not impossible!).
Here is Frist's statement, from which the NY Times extracted this headline and lead:
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Stock Sale Was Planned Months Before Plunge, Frist Says
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - Senator Bill Frist on Monday defended his sale of stock in his family's hospital company at the June peak in its price, saying he had first sought legal and ethical advice about divesting the shares two months earlier.
Mr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican who is considered a likely presidential candidate in 2008, also alluded to future considerations that played into the sale of the shares in the company, the hospital giant HCA.
"Looking ahead at my final years in the Senate and what might come next," Mr. Frist said, "I have for some time wanted to eliminate even the possibility of an appearance of a conflict by totally divesting."
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Reuters notes Frist's claim about the timing in their first sentence; the WaPo gets to it at the start of their second paragraph.
But how about the AP? Their reporter Joe Katz seems to have led the way with this story on Sept 20 (Yahoo, Boston Globe, Moderate Voice - Yahoo shows 9:37 PM Sept 20, which would make the Sept 21 editions. Per the Times, the initial impetus was an interview with one of Frist's aides in the Congressional Quarterly released on Monday).
One might wonder whether Joe is willing to let go - his coverage of the Frist statement fails to mention Frist's claim to have begun the process in April - the closest we get is this, from paragraph twelve:
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Frist said his aides worked with outside lawyers and ethics committee staff in May to draft a letter to trustees instructing the sale of stock.
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The PowerGuys have an extensive AP file, so maybe they will add this to it.
MORE: Excellent round-up of the Frist situation by a securities lawyer turned Baseball Crank.
baseballcrank.com
justoneminute.typepad.com
frist.senate.gov
nytimes.com
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
news.yahoo.com
boston.com
themoderatevoice.com
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