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Politics : Moderate Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cosmicforce who wrote (5872)	1/18/2004 5:45:36 PM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 20773

Sounds like O'Neill couldn't give a &^%* about what he would make from a book deal now: Aluminum sliding Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill promised to dump his Alcoa stock in March. He still hasn't -- and might have bagged $62 million as a result. By Jake Tapper - - - - - - - - - - June 07, 2001 \| WASHINGTON -- More than two months ago, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill agreed to sell $100 million in stock in Alcoa, the aluminum company he used to run, announcing on ABC's "This Week" that he had told his staff, "Let's get this off the table" in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. For now, though, O'Neill's stocks are still very much on the table. He has not fully divested and refuses to say just how much stock he has left in his former company. But he almost surely has earned millions off the stock as its price has soared in recent months -- in part because of initiatives by the federal government. By delaying his sale of the stock, O'Neill could have reaped a $62 million windfall. By Thursday, Alcoa's stock had increased in value about 30 percent since O'Neill made that March 25 announcement, promising to divest from the company he ran for 13 years. Michele Davis, a Treasury spokeswoman, said that O'Neill had sold some of his stock, but would not say how much, refusing to characterize his transaction as either large or small, saying only that "it will all be gone by June 22. His financial advisors are selling pieces of it on a routine basis." Davis claims that O'Neill's sale of Alcoa stock has been underway since "maybe April." But as of Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission had no record showing that O'Neill had sold any shares of Alcoa. And according to Peter Romeo, a Washington securities lawyer, the SEC would "almost certainly" have to be notified had any large transaction by a former chairman gone through. Davis did not return a call for further comment. Considering the meteoric rise of Alcoa stock since O'Neill's March 25 pledge, such a delay makes financial, if not ethical, sense. After all, O'Neill left Alcoa with 2.37 million shares of stock and 3.77 million in stock options. Had he held on to all of his stocks as Alcoa's stock price has shot to the roof in the last few months, he would now be significantly richer -- $62 million richer. "One of the sad truths of Washington is you can't take people at their word anymore on anything," says Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, a government watchdog group. "When we hear people are selling their stocks, silly us -- we actually thought he was selling it. The idea that he has gotten wealthier by not doing what he promised the American people he would do weeks ago is lamentable and misleading to the public." Lewis also says he was troubled by the fact that O'Neill has "made money by holding on to [the stock] while at the same time administration policies on energy have driven up the price of his stock." When President Bush was sworn in Jan. 21, Alcoa stock was worth $32.69 per share. On March 26, the day after O'Neill said he would sell his shares in Alcoa, the company's stock opened at $33.90. Since then, due in part to actions by the federal government in response to the energy crisis, Alcoa stock has risen dramatically. On Wednesday, Alcoa closed at $43.99 on the New York Stock Exchange -- a $10.09, or 29.8 percent, increase since O'Neill promised to sell the stock. In other words, O'Neill's net worth because of Alcoa has increased $23.9 million if he has held on to his entire investment. Moreover, O'Neill also held 3.77 million Alcoa stock options. Alcoa's annual report says the 44.6 million options given to employees have an average exercisable price of $23.42. Assuming this to be the worth of each one of O'Neill's stock options -- a conservative estimate -- the increase in value of these options from March 26 until June 6 would be approximately $38.1 million. That means, in total, O'Neill's foot-dragging on the matter could have made him $62 million richer.