Frist pondered stock sale in April: discussed transaction in e-mail

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Frist pondered stock sale in April
Report: Senator, advisers discussed transaction in e-mail
By MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:46 AM ET Oct. 1, 2005

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BBF4B3705-D993-478C-91DE-C575E7D7B696%7D&siteid=google

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pondered the sale of his stock in HCA Inc. in April, before it was clear that shares of the hospital company would fall, the Washington Post reported, citing e-mails provided by sources sympathetic to the Tennessee Republican.

Frist and six HCA insiders sold shares in HCA (HCA: news, chart, profile) earlier this year, shortly before the company issued a profit warning that sent its stock tumbling 9%. The Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission have launched separate probes into the sale. HCA was founded by Frist's family. Frist announced last week that he and his immediate family sold all the shares they owned in HCA in June. The majority leader has said he acted properly and that he had no inside information on the company's prospects at the time of the sale. See earlier story.

The Washington Post said an April 29 e-mail message from G. Allen Hicks, chief counsel to the majority leader, informed Frist he could talk about the senator's "blind trust question" that day. Frist also traded email with his Nashville-based accountant, telling her he wanted to discuss disposing of "all hospital stock in all accounts that I have control of." Frist advised his brother, HCA board member and former chairman Thomas Frist, of his decision in late April, several weeks before telling the official who controlled his blind trust about the decision, the report said.

Analysts said Frist may still face difficulty explaining to the SEC why he sold when he did, the Post said. Frist held the stocks in trust for years and maintained they didn't constitute a conflict of interest, despite numerous complaints by public interest groups.

[rodeodance]

1. now to find the email from his family telling him to sell.

[indepat]

3. Frist claiming to (finally) sell to eliminate CofI brings disingenuity

to a new level, IMHO, as is claiming he had a "blind trust."

[displacedtexan]

2. Sorry. I have to see the hard drive evidence on this one.

I suspect the Fristians would delete email text and insert more Fristian-friendly text to protect his lying ass if they thought they could get away with it.

Jeez! Even I know how to restore my computer to a point in the past.

I'm not settling for the word of a friend or family member of a Repuke.

[rainbow4321]

4. And looking at the 1 yr stock chart

he sure let the stock climb, climb, climb before he started thinking about it...how many months ahead do insiders start to realize things will be heading south? That "April" date might as well be May 1st and if you look at this chart, that is just 8 weeks before the stock's shit hit the fan.


http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=HCA&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=


Plus this chart below shows alot of insiders selling and having "planned sales" in April..what DID they know and WHEN did they know it??


http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=HCA

[NMDemDist2]

5. that may be very true, however..... a CEO knows when the trends in his

company are showing that it's earnings will tank long before the accounting dept figures show it.

Frist had inside info from his family that the biz was turning stinky. 5 months is about right for the first problems to show up.

now I'm no expert, but that makes sense to me. you don't just wake up one morning and say "Holy Crap! our business is leaking profits like a sieve"

just saying.... :shrug:

[rainbow4321]

6. See post #4 for the insider transaction list

Lots of selling and "plan to sells" going on back in April.

[NMDemDist2]

8. i saw that after my post, you make my point exactly. this trade

was stinky as hell IMO

[geek tragedy]

7. Legally irrelevant. The only exception to the ban on trading

while aware of insider info is if the person was under a binding contract to do so.

Just because he was "thinking about it" doesn't mean bupkus.

[catnhatnh]

9. This one's easy....

...if I am a sleezeball (and he is) who knows I may be trading on insider info I send out E-mails every 3 months or so saying I'm thinking of buying or selling every kind of stock I can think of (health care,pharmaceuticals,defense related).When I get insider info I grab the profits and VOILA! I have past e-mails "proving" it was an innocent coincidence....JESUS...now I'm thinking like them!!!