Posted on 07/09/2002 4:44:40 PM PDT by Paul_E_Ester
(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the group that investigates and prosecutes corruption by government officials, announced today that it is filing a shareholders suit in Dallas, Texas, against Vice President Dick Cheney and the other involved directors of Halliburton, as well as Halliburton itself, for alleged fraudulent accounting practices which resulted in the overvaluation of the companys shares, thereby deceiving investors and others.
The suit comes one day after President George W. Bush, who himself is enmeshed in allegations of insider trading when he was an executive, who sat on the audit committee of Harken Energy Company, announced a plan to crack down on corporate fraud. Ironically, it would appear that the Presidents rush to propose more regulation of private industry is intended to deflect attention away from his and his Vice Presidents own alleged improper business practices. President Bush has maintained that he was cleared by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Others have countered that the head of the agency was then an appointee of his father, President George H.W.Bush.
President Clinton and the Democratic Party used a similar gambit when they were caught taking money illegally from foreign donors, including the Communist Chinese. Instead of prosecuting vigorously the Clintons and other guilty politicians, new campaign finance laws were proposed to deflect attention away from alleged crimes.
Whether it is the Enron, Arthur Andersen, Global Crossing, or now the Halliburton and Harken scandals, there is a dangerous intersection between politicians of all stripes, Democrat and Republican, attempting to feed at the trough of business greed. As is true of the Clinton scandals, the American people cannot look the other way just because the President and Vice President are allegedly involved. Indeed, Judicial Watch has already sued Democrat and Republican officials in the Enron and Global Crossing scandals. To look the other way for the Vice President would be to set a precedent that the Washington elite are above the law. This cannot be permitted if our democracy is to survive, stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
In 1995 Halliburton was prosecuted and forced to plead guilty to trading with Libya, a terrorist state on the U.S. watch list.
A press conference will be held in Miami at 9:00 A.M. at the Sheraton Hotel at 495 Brickell Avenue to announce and detail this suit.
That made me laugh out loud. Klayman is the worst kind of hustler. Anything is fair game if it keeps his name alive. Has he ever won a lawsuit? He made all kinds of waves during the Clinton administration, but in the end nothing came of it. Then in Florida, during those endless recounts, he tried to worm his way into the process. Fortunately, the Florida judges saw through his efforts and correctly minimized his role.
Watchdog? No, publicity hog.
I'll bet that almost nobody does. Once you get a reputation as a bunch of kooks, most of the chairs at your press conferences start going empty.
It's always quite interesting to watch the beginnings and endings of various panel discussions on one of the C-SPAN channels where they show the audience coming and going, and comparing the number of people that show up to the rationality of the organization.
I think he reached a favorable settlement when he sued his mother.
-PJ
p.s. Dave's not here.
Well maybe the following has something to do with it. He has an office in Miami, doesn't he?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.