- Harvey Pitt, the Bush administration's chief at the S.E.C., was actually an
Arthur Andersen lawyer. - Harken Energy Accountants: Arthur Andersen. George W. Bush - Seated on Harken's Board of Directors and audit committee, and large shareholder while Arthur Andersen applied their talents to the books. Bush Violated Security Laws Four Times, SEC Report Says Harken's audit committee, of which Bush was a member, met with Mikel Faulkner and auditors from Arthur Andersen and Co. Harken's accountants, on June 11, 1990, just 11 days before Bush sold his stock on June 22. When asked for a copy of the June 11 minutes or permission to inspect them, the company declined to make the records available.
Insider Trading and George W. Bush
A U S T I N, July 1-- The Securities and Exchange Commission defines insider trading as "Corporate officers, directors, and employees who traded the corporation's securities after learning of significant, confidential corporate developments". Bush sold $848,560 worth of Harken Energy stock on June 22, 1990, just one week before the company posted spectacular losses and the stock plunged sharply. When the losses were reported to the public on August 20, 1990, the stock plummeted.According to documents from a two year investigation by the SEC, Bush served on the board of directors of Harken Energy Corporation and his position on a special Harken committee gave him detailed knowledge of the company's deteriorating financial condition. The SEC received word of Bush's trade ten months late.
The SEC states, "Because insider trading undermines investor confidence in the fairness and integrity of the securities markets, the Commission has treated the detection and prosecution of insider trading violations as one of its enforcement priorities".
Bush supporters point out that the stock's value went back up, eventually, and if Bush had held the stock, it would have made him more money. But, knowing when to sell is the golden goose of stock trading and using inside information is insider trading. The SEC investigated but decided not to punish Bush. After all, his dad was President and all five SEC Commissioners are appointed by the President. Furthermore, the SEC's general counsel had actually represented George W. in the Texas Rangers negotiation. Any doubts?
George W. Bush and Ashcroft think Arthur Andersen is the firm to review and clean up the FBI.
- Neil Bush - Silverado Savings and Loan Executive on Board of Directors. Signs point to mob involvement in savings and loan mess. Bush paid a $50,000 fine and was banned from banking activities for his role in taking down Silverado, which actually cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. A Resolution Trust Corporation Suit against Bush and other officers of Silverado was settled in 1991 for $26.5 million. Ernst & Young Pays $400 Million To Settle Thrift Regulators including Silverado Banking Savings and Loan.
- BUSH AND CO. - JONATHAN BUSH , President & Chief Executive Officer. Massachusetts securities regulators have fined the stock brokerage firm owned by President Bush's brother Jonathan $30,000 and barred it from trading with the general public for one year because the company and Bush violated state registration laws.
- Ideon Corporation - Jeb Bush - Board of Directors - Bush sat on Ideon's audit committee, the watchdog of financial and management integrity. Jeb Bush joined board of company mired in trouble. Ideon was sold to CUC International. Ideon's directors faced lawsuits claiming stock manipulation. Now, more than two years later, Cendant -- the successor company to CUC -- is struggling to recover after discovering years of accounting fraud attributed, in part, to CUC's purchase of Ideon. Consultants like convicted Wall Street felon Martin Siegel were used. Jeb Bush and his Republican fund-raiser friend Thomas Petway sat on Ideon's audit committee, the watchdog of financial and management integrity. Many of Bush's fellow outside directors -- who were supposed to represent shareholder interests -- had cut cozy business deals with Ideon. In some cases, they got six-figure consulting fees on top of their directors pay. By August 1996, Ideon was sold for $375-million to CUC. The sale included indemnification for directors against lawsuits. Good news, considering the lawsuits charge Ideon and its directors with stock manipulation. The cases were settled early this year for $15-million. Bush and the other directors paid nothing. On August 28, 1998, Arthur Andersen & Co. rendered its Report to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Cendant Corporation reporting on its forensic audit of CUC International, Inc., in the wake of disclosures in mid-April that accounting irregularities had been discovered at CUC.
- Zapata PetroleumFormer President George H. W. Bush(poppa) - George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography The Zapata Offshore filings with the SEC between 1955 and 1959 are cryptic, and the SEC files on Zapata Offshore between 1960 and 1966, when Bush had exclusive control of the company, were destroyed by the SEC either in 1981, when Bush had just become vice president, or somewhat later, in October, 1983, according to various SEC officials. Bush nevertheless created a network of subsidiaries which was suspiciously complex. This topic is difficult to research because of the very convenient disappearance of the Zapata Offshore filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington for the year 1960-1966 which were "inadvertently" destroyed by a federal warehouse. This is the kind of convenient tampering with official records from which Bush has benefitted again and again over his career. Auditors for Zapata Petroleum were Arthur Andersen. Counsel were listed as Baker, Botts, Andrews & Shepherd of Houston, Texas. Transfer agents were J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc., of New York City.