Posted on 09/28/2005 5:29:10 AM PDT by OESY
It took Senator Jon S. Corzine two decades to work his way to the top of Goldman Sachs and accumulate company shares that in 2001 were valued at $270 million. But now, all that he has left in the company is - well, nothing.
On Tuesday, Mr. Corzine's campaign revealed that he had completed his divestiture of his Goldman Sachs holdings. And while it was not clear when the last of the holdings was sold, Tom Shea, a senior campaign adviser, said the sale was probably completed this year, because Mr. Corzine did not list it on his 2004 tax returns.
Even though Mr. Corzine's assets have been managed in a blind trust since he was elected to the Senate in 2000, his money has been an issue in his race for governor against Douglas R. Forrester, the Republican candidate.
Mr. Corzine's relationship with Goldman Sachs was the focus of a news conference called on Tuesday by Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer, two lawyers and longtime critics of both candidates.
Mr. Afran and Mr. Mayer noted that Goldman Sachs was trying to acquire Gtech, a company that operates the New Jersey Lottery and works closely with the casinos in Atlantic City. They also said that Goldman Sachs had earned more than $110 million in bond fees involving New Jersey agencies during the 1990's. And those facts, they said, constituted a potential conflict of interest for Mr. Corzine if he had a financial interest in Goldman Sachs. So people in the Corzine campaign looked into the matter, and were surprised by what they found.
"In response to press inquiries today, Senator Corzine directed the trustees of his blind trust to immediately complete the steady divestiture of shares of Goldman Sachs from his investment portfolio," Mr. Shea said in a statement....
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Uh, if it's a blind trust, how did Corzine know what was in it?
Bad Timing. Goldman just annouced a huge stock buyback plan. He probably would of doubled the 270 million within a year.
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