Close..but this was the worst..
Posted on 12/12/2006 11:56:04 AM PST by NormsRevenge
A former top budget official in the Reagan White House is a target of a criminal investigation into possible financial fraud at an auto parts company he headed before it collapsed into bankruptcy, a federal official told The Associated Press.
David Stockman, who rose to prominence as budget director under President Reagan, is the former chairman and CEO of Michigan-based Collins & Aikman Corp.
Federal investigators and prosecutors are preparing a case against Stockman and other corporate officers from Collins & Aikman and expect to soon present the findings to a grand jury in New York City, the official said.
The investigation is focused on whether Stockman and other corporate officers at Collins & Aikman misled investors about the financial health of the company by artificially inflating stock prices. ABC News reported on the case Monday.
The investigation began last summer, the federal official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the probe is still under way.
Stockman could face charges of securities fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud, the official said.
Stockman's attorney, Elkan Abramowitz, said he did not believe that charges should be brought.
"We have been cooperating fully with both the U.S. Attorney and the SEC," he said. "We strongly believe that no criminal charges should be brought against Mr. Stockman. We have made our arguments orally to the U.S. Attorney. We have been told that they are considering them."
Collins & Aikman spokesman David Youngman declined comment Tuesday.
Collins & Aikman Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005. It was formed in 1891 as an upholstery manufacturer and now provides automotive flooring, fabric, instrument panels and other equipment to several automakers around the world.
Stockman, also a former congressman, was Reagan's budget director from 1981 to 1985. He created a storm early in his tenure when he told an interviewer that he thought Reaganomics were a "Trojan horse" for the rich, and predicted huge budget deficits. He said later he was summoned to the White House "woodshed."
Stockman apologized and kept his job until 1985, when he resigned and wrote a book of scathing criticism of Reagan and his top aides.
___
Associated Press Writer Ken Thomas in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
On the Net:
http://www.collinsaikman.com
Stockman, ole boy, you're toast.
Stockman is and always was an idiot. He was lyonized by the media after he turned on Reagan.
Stockman was the worst appointment ever made by the great President Reagan. Anyone remember all that crapola with Stockman spilling his guts over many months to leftist "journalist" Wm. Greider who then published a big attack-piece on the Reagan administration in Atlantic Monthly?
Stockman was "taken to the woodshed" for his role in Greider-gate but he should have been canned immediately. It was pure egotism and "I'm better than anyone else here" that caused huge problems for the early Reagan presidency and the country.
One of my good friends from high school was CFO of the company when I last saw him in 1996. I hope he got out before the manipulations and indictable actions took place.
take him down hard.
Stockman got the Strange New Respect from the MSM when he turned on Reagan. Now that he is in trouble they forget that, and rebrand him as "Reagan official".
BUMP
And the press wonders why we accuse them of bias? The man was a Reagan appointee more than 20 years ago, he repudiated Reagan's policy while in office, wrote a scathing book about it, and his theory was wrong -- yet the headline reads "Ex-Reagan Aide Investigated."
Word. See post 11.
He was portrayed by the media as a boy genius when he blasted Reagan's budget proposal. Of course, they also thought he was an idiot until he did that.
Isn't Stockman the one who came up with the "trickle down" phrase?
Close..but this was the worst..
Stokman was not a wizard. In fact, he caused economic harm with his moronic theories.
Here's Tim Noah's worshipful liberal look at "David Stockman, Working Class Hero" from a few years back.
Right, you got me there!! OK, "Stockman was the 2nd-worst appointment ever made by the otherwise great President Reagan....."
Did he join MI and switch officially to the Democrats. The whole state is perpetually Democrat because of Detroit.
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