Bush's Stock Sale
George W. Bush sold 212,140 shares of Harken Energy at $4 a share on June 22, 1990, for a grand total of $848,560. Two months later, August 20, Harken announced a larger than expected loss for the previous quarter. Surprisingly, the price of the company's stock shares barely went down at first, following these two negative, or "bearish," events. In the ensuing months, Harken's stock price did drift ever downward to $1.25 by the end of the year. The stock price then recovered its value and more the following year, however. Strange behavior for the stock. The sale of the large block of shares had become widely publicized and allegations of the use of insider information and improper stock transactions were leveled at Mr. Bush.
Mr. Bush has denied any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, an investigation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was initiated. The investigation focused on three questions surrounding the transaction and the president's actions - Was there prior knowledge of the loss reported in August? Did Mr. Bush attempt to avoid the loss of value of his property based on insider's information? And, did the August announcement of a bigger than expected loss lead to a loss of value of property for investors in the company?
Read more about this topic: Harken Energy Scandal
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—George Bush (b. 1924)
“The freedom to make a fortune on the Stock Exchange has been made to sound more alluring than freedom of speech.”
—John Mortimer (b. 1923)
“I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship, or the sale of goods through pretending that they sell, or power through making believe you are powerful, or through a packed jury or caucus, bribery and “repeating” votes, or wealth by fraud.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)