Posted on 08/07/2002 12:40:11 PM PDT by kattracks
Controversial Stock Analyst Was Big Democrat Donor
A Wall Street stock analyst now under investigation for suspected conflicts of interest gave a whopping $100,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in June, the same day he was subpoenaed by the House Financial Services Committee, and the day after the SEC filed charges against bankrupt Worldcom.
Jack B. Grubman, an analyst at the Wall Street brokerage firm Salomon Smith Barney gave his largest political contribution yet to the campaign committee according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a group which tracks political funds.
According to PoliticalMoneyLine Grubman, donated the $100,000 on June 27, the very day he was subpoenaed by the House Financial Services Committee, and just one day after the SEC filed charges against Worldcom.
He could afford to give that kind of money. According to CNNMoney, he earned about $20 million a year, making him Wall Street's highest-paid analyst ever.
According to Bloomberg News, investigators want to know if Grubman "tailored his recommendations on stocks to win investment-banking business." Last month he told a House committee that he had based his ratings on his views of the companies, not on whether they would provide banking business to his firm.
Grubman, "maintained a bullish stance on a number of telecom issues even as they foundered," wrote Siliconvalley.com. "Grubman, one of the company's biggest supporters on Wall Street, cut his rating on WorldCom to "underperform" from "neutral" and set a $1 price target two days before the company revealed it had improperly accounted for almost $4 billion in expenses"
While the Senate Democratic campaign committee has returned contributions from Enron, and is refunding money contributed by WorldCom, they have not decided whether or not to return Mr. Grubman's donation.
"Tons of people are investigating this, and that's not our job," a spokeswoman for the committee, Tovah Ravitz told Bloomberg News. "We'll probably wait to see what happens."
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BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Maybe the Feds will put him on a hook and use him for bait.
Did anyone else hear this? I was laughing all afternoon and couldn't get it out of my head.
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