insider trading

Every single American should be outraged over this:

One-hundred-thirty members of Congress or their families have traded stocks collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars in companies lobbying on bills that came before their committees, a practice that is permitted under current ethics rules, a Washington Post analysis has found.

The lawmakers bought and sold a total of between $85 million and $218 million in 323 companies registered to lobby on legislation that appeared before them, according to an examination of all 45,000 individual congressional stock transactions contained in computerized financial disclosure data from 2007 to 2010.

Almost one in every eight trades — 5,531 — intersected with legislation. The 130 lawmakers traded stocks or bonds in companies as bills passed through their committees or while Congress was still considering the legislation. The party affiliation of the lawmakers was almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, 68 to 62.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) reported buying $25,000 in bonds in a genetic-technology company around the time that he released a hold on legislation the firm supported. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) sold between $50,000 and $100,000 in General Electric stock shortly before a Republican filibuster killed legislation sought by the company. The family of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) bought between $286,000 and $690,000 in a high-tech company interested in a bill under his committee’s jurisdiction.

This the same as insider trading, plain and simple. Now the Stock Act was passed earlier this year, but it was highly watered down:

For those that have never heard of Sam and Charles Wyly, well here’s all you really need to know. They are huge donors to conservative candidates and causes and were some of the major funding for the Swiftboat Vets. Well and this – now they are accused of over $550 million in insider trading by the SEC:

Sam and Charles Wyly, Dallas billionaire investors known for their support of conservative candidates and causes, made $550 million in undisclosed profits through 13 years of insider trading, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed Thursday.

In a 78-page complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court in New York, the SEC said the Wylys held and traded tens of millions of shares in companies on whose boards they served and "defrauded the investing public" by misrepresenting their ownership and trading of those stocks.

"The apparatus of the fraud was an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies located in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands ... created by and at the direction of the Wylys," the SEC complaint stated.

This isn’t the first run-in the Wyly’s have had with the SEC. Their troubles date all the way back to 1979.

It is time for a full criminal hearing into the Bush White House. Here is the latest revelation on the NSA wiretapping:

A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week.

Details about the alleged NSA program have been redacted from the documents, but Nacchio's lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records.

In the court filings disclosed this week, Nacchio suggests that Qwest's refusal to take part in that program led the government to cancel a separate, lucrative contract with the NSA in retribution. He is using the allegation to try to show why his stock sale should not have been considered improper.

(emphasis added)

Think Progress reminds us of this argument for the spying:

Out of all the Republicans in the country, the pick by the Southern Republican Convention to be the next President is (excuse me while I wipe the tears from my eyes, I have been laughing hard) Bill Frist. I got only one thing to say about that. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (ok three things).

Frist would be a great choice to win the primary in 2008. The Democrats couldn't ask for someone better. True he very well could be in jail or facing trial by then because of his insider trading investigation, but hey, this is the kind of guy the party of corruption wants to lead this country. Maybe we could be as lucky as to have him misdiagnose the country over a monitor.

What really gets me is the fact that Frist was isolated from the GOP last week during the Dubai ports deal. While Senate Republicans wanted legislation to block the plan, Frist tried to block the Senate Republicans. Now they want him to lead this country? LISTEN UP PEOPLE. The Republicans showed even more this weekend that they do not care about national security. Frist supported the action of Bush which has caused him to become alienated by his party this week.

So there you got it. The Southern Republicans feel that a corrupt doctor that finds politics more important than the proper diagnosis of a patient and was willing to sell our ports to a country with known ties to our attackers is he best choice to lead this country. Hell I might have to register as a Republican now just so I can vote for Frist in the 08 primaries. That is a guaranteed win for the Democrats.

Brad Friedman of
Brad Blog is staying
on top of Diebold and this time it comes with an exclusive detailing a federal
class-action lawsuit filed against the maker of voting machines today in Ohio.

Eight Current and Former Executives Named as Co-Defendants, Including
former CEO O'Dell and New CEO Swidarski Class Action Suit Alleges Fraud,
Insider Trading, Manipulation of Stock Prices, Concealment of Known Flaws in
Voting Machines and Company Structural Problems

The BRAD BLOG can now report that a Securities Fraud Class Action suit
has been filed against Diebold, Inc. (stock symbol: DBD ) naming eight top
executive officers in the...

The BRAD BLOG can now report that a Securities Fraud Class Action suit
has been filed against Diebold, Inc. (stock symbol: DBD) naming eight top
executive officers in the company as co-defendants. The suit has been filed
by plaintiff Janice Konkol, alleging securities fraud against the North
Canton, Ohio-based manufacturer of Voting Systems and ATM machines on behalf
of investors who owned shares of Diebold stock and lost money due to an
alleged fraudulent scheme by the company and its executives to deceive
shareholders during the "class period" of October 22, 2003 through September
21, 2005.

Looks like trouble could be compounding for Bill Frist according to this
article which appears today in the

Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn
over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe
of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the
investigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the subpoena within the
past two weeks, after initial reports that Frist, the Senate's top
Republican official, was under scrutiny by the agency and the Justice
Department for possible violations of insider trading laws.

Frist aides previously said he had been contacted by regulators but did
not mention that the lawmaker had received a formal request for documents.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
investigation, said Frist is expected to testify under oath about what he
knew about the company's health in the weeks before he sold stock. Frist has
told reporters that he did nothing wrong and that he directed the sale to
eliminate potential conflicts as he considered a 2008 presidential bid.

View rest of the article

here (free registration required).

As this investigation broadens, it will raise the question of how the right
can put blame onto the left. Ken Mehlman talking points should be really
interesting when it comes to this story.