Allegations of insider trading have been made against George W. Bush, later elected President of the United States, for his 1990 sale of stock in Harken Energy Corporation, of which he was a director. The sale raised the issue of whether it constituted illegal insider trading.
In House of Bush, House of Saud, Craig Unger asserts that at the time of Bush's sale, Harken Energy "was expected to run out of money in just three days" (p. 123). In a las...
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Allegations of insider trading have been made against George W. Bush, later elected President of the United States, for his 1990 sale of stock in Harken Energy Corporation, of which he was a director. The sale raised the issue of whether it constituted illegal insider trading.
In House of Bush, House of Saud, Craig Unger asserts that at the time of Bush's sale, Harken Energy "was expected to run out of money in just three days" (p. 123). In a last-ditch attempt to save the company, Harken was advised by the endowment fund of Harvard University to spin-off two of its lower-performing divisions–"According to a Harken memo, if the plan did not go through, the company had 'no other source of immediate financing.'" Bush had already taken out a $500,000 loan and sought Harken's general counsel for advice. The reply was explicit: "The act of trading, particularly if close in time to the receipt of the inside information, is strong evidence that the insider's investment decision was based on...
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