Reply #182: Secrecy Surrounds Bush Stock Deal

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/07.13C.bush.stock.htm

Secrecy Surrounds Bush Stock Deal
By The Associated Press | New York Times

Friday, 12 July, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) -- It is a stock market whodunit that has withstood a decade of scrutiny. Who bought George W. Bush's problem-plagued oil company stock just before its value dropped?

The 1990 transaction involving shares of Harken Energy Corp. allowed the future president to pay off a bank loan for his now-famous stake in the Texas Rangers baseball team. The identity of the buyer of the stock has escaped public disclosure.

Federal regulators who examined the deal as a possible insider trade never asked. President Bush says he doesn't know and the White House declines to ask the broker who handled the transaction. Reporters have fared no better in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

Was Bush's sale of Harken stock another instance of a helping hand from family friends? Or was it a simple case of a buyer trying to make a killing in a high-risk investment?
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