CA: Partnership paid nicely for Matsui (Not quite as good as Hillary's cattle futures but..)

Sac Bee ^ | 2/11/05 | Kevin Yamamura

[NormsRevenge]

Doris Matsui had seen her stock investments plummet two years ago to a point where she decided she wanted to shift some of her money elsewhere.

Matsui, who is running in a March 8 special election to replace her late husband in Congress, figured real estate was a better way to go. Matsui recalled Friday that she said as much back then to major Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, whom she has considered a friend for three decades.

"Everybody when they get together at parties talks about their real estate, about how much more your house is worth than it was two years ago," she said.

"It was probably at one of these party situations where ... I mentioned it to him. I said, 'Well, my stocks are going down.' And we were talking about real estate, so he said, 'Well, you know there are all kinds of opportunities,' because he does things." That conversation led to Matsui's 2003 investments in two Tsakopoulos-controlled land partnerships, Valley View in El Dorado Hills and Greenbrier in North Natomas.

According to a document released to the Bee on Friday by her campaign, Matsui sold the properties in late January for a $214,000 profit - $178,000 after taxes - to more than double her $150,000 investment in a two-year span.

Since announcing her congressional bid last month to replace her late husband, Rep. Robert Matsui, Doris Matsui said she sold off both investments as part of a personal review of her finances and to show she "is not encumbered in any way at all."

[calcowgirl]

Bump!