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.
Now I realize what a sucker I was.
I also think something changed during the campaign. I distinctly remember Klayman going after Bush because he wouldn't come to his "debate." (Nevermind that not many other candidates signed on, either.)
The attack on Laura Bush for the transition tea with Mrs. Clinton was the last straw.
This is over the top. In my wildest dreams I cannot imagine Dick Cheney doing anything unethical, and furthermore risking the administration's reputation by concealing it.
AND, what standing does Klayman have to sue, anyway? Does he own shares of Halliburton? When did he make the purchase?
You make an interesting point. Maybe he keeps suing in order to avoid complying with the audit that he has been delaying for 3 years now. Judicial Watch has been pleading the Fifth Amendment, but maybe he's lost confidence in that route.
Good catch!
LOL.... I think you can make a case that the 'eww' should sue his own firm in fairness to complete the audit since he is the watchdog of gov't corruption. After all 'JW' is a 501c3 tax exempt orginzation, working through rules of the IRS, a government entity, thus we need to be sure beyond reproach that he is complying. The donors get a tax break, so in effect he's using gov't tax money, our money.
Well, if that's true, I think he should quit pleading the Fifth Amendment and just come clean with the American people. Just tell the truth about the finances and such. The American people are very forgiving.
Apparently he's he's the attorney representing some stockholders. They can hire whom they please
Not too long thereafter trading was suspended and stock was worthless. CPA's were cooking the books. I lost everything and had to sell everything else to survive. I lost a LOT of money! To say nothing of my home and my marriage.
The owner of the Company and his accountants went to jail for a few years, the VP killed himself. Merrill Lynch took a hit. I survived, and prospered again. I figured gone is gone. I can't cry it back. So get up and get on.
My point is that lots of people have been financially hurt over the years, but this is different because it is so wide spread, or appears to be. All the CEO's are big Political Contributors and to a man Liberal Democrats who started up these companies under Clintons's administration and were pretty chummy with him and McAuliff....like to know about 18 million $$$$ McAuliff made on inside information, although, like Hillary we are to believe it was his financial savvy that made him the big bucks on his $100,000.00 initial investment and over such a short period of time too. Don't suppose Clinton put in a good word for him, do you?
I do not know when I have been so mad. It's a good thing I don't live in DC or I might have been arrested.
They can't make anything stick to the Bush administration thus far, and November looms. The Senate hangs in the balance.
If we get it, we might get the SC also.. if nothing else we will be able to legslate pretty much at will.
You know that's got to scare them senseless.
Any group that would poision a dog to protest animal cruelty doesn't care how they win. So long as they do.
I don't think "they" hired anyone. I suspect that this will be some sort of class action in which he just needs the consent one shareholder to initiate the action. I wonder who that one shareholder might be????
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