Wyly Brothers: SEC Complaint on $550 Million Fraud
This might generate a bit of buzz tomorrow via the FT: Wyly brothers accused of MASSIVE insider scandal (how is it that the FT scoops US papers?):
This is pretty big:
Here’s the key paragraphs:
“The Wyly brothers reaped more than $550 million in undisclosed gains while sitting on corporate boards by trading stock in those public companies through hidden entities located in foreign jurisdictions to conceal their ownership and trading of those securities.
The SEC alleges that the brothers created an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies in the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands to sell more than $750 million worth of stock in four public companies for which they were corporate directors. They also committed an insider trading violation in one of the companies for an unlawful gain of more than $31.7 million.
If there are two bigger scumbags in the State of Texas, I am unfamiliar with them. And if the SEC allegations are true, then these two douches are going to spend most of the rest of their lives behind bars.
I am curious as to which political shit-for-brains will be out defending these two jerk offs . . .
~~~
UPDATE July 29, 2010 10:05pm
Here is a question:
This seems too complex a case for for the SEC to have happened upon. I’ll bet there is a whistleblower — or juicier still, an insider that turned — somewhere in this case . . .
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July 29th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
How do you really feel ?
July 29th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
I am from Taxachusset, and I have never been a fan of Kerry.
But I thought what the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth did was simply awful. If these are the guys behind, than maybe they will finally got their just reward
July 29th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Ah Texas. Is this not the home of George W. ?? Yes, now we have a trio.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
(how is it that the FT scoops US papers?)
Because U.S. newspapers suck.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
“I am curious as to which political shit-for-brains will be out defending these two jerk offs . . .”
Barry Barry Barry, you need to wait a day or two before making these statements. You’re a mover and shaker now and you gave them thar shit-for-brains warning.
I presume they’re the ones that funded the anti McCain phone survey in 2000. Hope they have a nice interacial experience in their new home.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Window Washer
No, if I say it afterwards — (My friend XX is a shit-for-brain), I have to apologize for it.
But if I say it before hand, and some colleague/friend/acquaintance steps into it, well, that is his tough luck for having shit-for-brains.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
To A Says:
Are you forgetting the Hun Brothers and their failed attempt to corner the silver market?
July 29th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
so BR-
your alias appears to be Scott F?
hahahahahahhahaha-
July 29th, 2010 at 9:34 pm
No, that is a fund manager who I can only occasionally get to post because he is so
lazybusy (he is my cabin buddy at the Maine fishing event). He is the one who drew my attention to the indictmentHe emails and calls in comments, but only rarely posts himself.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:35 pm
@Calvin
True, but I presume the set up in the Isle of Wright had something to do with it. Digging up dirt on Isle banking always plays well the UK. I presume breaking the veil on a corp/trust (or whatever it was) hit the UK courts whereas the SEC didn’t go to court in the US until now.
Just my guess.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Sorry I meant the Hunt brothers: Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt.
For more see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Texas
July 29th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Barry, I forgot about that J.D. well played.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
“…..If there are two bigger scumbags in the State of Texas, I am unfamiliar with them….”
Come on Barry, please, TEXAS…?
How’s about Mr. and Mrs. Phil Gramm, Mr. and Mrs, Dubya, too many to mention, not enough time…. Com’n Kid, TEXAS…?
Ciao,
Econolicious
July 29th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
The SEC has no teeth to impose criminal charges, that would come via the FBI and the United States Attorneys Office. The insider trading charge and wire fraud charges will be predicate charges to money laundering charges. Given the amount of money involved, the sentencing guidelines are through the roof and these guys will wind up serving the rest of their lives in jail if the judge stays within the guidelines….
July 29th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I love the Brits: per Onenewspage: ” Wyly brothers accused of MASSIVE insider scandal, Yes, MASSIVE. Knocks Martha Stewart, Galleon, etc into a cocked hat “. love it!!
July 29th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
BR-
dude- love that editing-in any event- it appears that some are very happy that these dudes are going down- if only for political reasons- is that a fair statement? respond if so inclined.
~~~
BR: Anyone who is an enemy of the truth is an enemy of mine.
July 29th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
(how is it that the FT scoops US papers?)
Same reason why the SEC didn’t take up Markopolous’ evidence: the US press is filled with innumerate lawyers and liberal arts majors. Start mentioning numbers in these scams, their eyes roll back in their heads and they commence petite mal seizures.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
here is a question: This seems too complex for the SEC to have happened upon — I’ll bet there is a whistleblower — or juicier still, an insider that turned — somewhere in this case.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
SEC getting tough? Got them some tax evadin’ off shore money hidin, stock churnin, good ole’ boy Republicans!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s like almost good enough to go next to Lloyd Blankfein’s head on the mantle. (In some parts of the country, even better)
For your listening pleasure…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLoYFvbR0XY&feature=related
July 29th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
$550 million in gains….sounds like the IRS might want a pound of flesh.
@BR “This seems too complex for the SEC to have happened upon”
You think? The SEC couldn’t find their own asses with two hands. Total lack of belief that they are working to make equity investing a fair game for retail clients is a big factor in the retail investor running away from Wall Street.
It is not just the summer. Go to your local retail brokerage firm and listen to the deafening sounds of SILENCE. The phones totally died after the May/June sell-off.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
These boys are jus upholdin the proud traditions of Billy Sol Estes and Bunker Hunt. The difference is that we ASSUME our guys are playing with a marked deck. Matter of fact, there is an under the table betting book at the Petroleum Club to see which of the Lizzards get caught!
July 29th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
BR- I certainly want the truth- and it seems very plausible-
and I couldn’t care less about these dudes- but- why the zealotry?
I didn’t even know who these dudes were until tonight- but thanks to Scott F I learn they were behind the Kerry swift boat incidents- so . . .that makes it extra heinous?
~~~
BR: Legally, (read the SEC Complaint) they were BOARD OF DIRECTORs at various companies, participating in corp[orate manipulating corporate influence and decision making, while illegally buying and selling stock based no info only insiders knew.
Politically, these are the guys who helped make American political discourse uglier, no longer based on reality, who engaged in political slander and character assassination of the highest. They helped ratchet up the partisan rancor and inability for their to be any sort of bipartisan progress.
In all of their endeavors, these guys are ethicless douchebags of the nth degree . . .
July 29th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
GOOD !! These guys should have all the $$ taken back and spend the rest of days in JAIL
SEC has some new sheriffs in town, so hopefully we will continue to see these announcements. More info at
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases.shtml
The Republic of Texas, home of R. Allen Sanford Charged In $8 Billion Fraud
umm, interesting $550M … sounds familiar, GS should have folks heading for the big house as well.
July 29th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
“…over a period of 13 years…”
I wonder why the Bush SEC never brought this one to the fore?
Darrell Issa should start investigating the timing – or lack thereof – right away. Where is the smoking gun boat, Honorable Congressman Issa?
~~~
BR: Issa, is another douchebag . . .
July 29th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
@ A:
It only took 3 comments to blame W once again. How about lets stick to the issues at hand?
@contrabandista13: Mrs. W? Come on. you have no class. What has that lady ever done? It sounds like these two may in some deep doo doo, but the guys on this blog that look for every story to trace back to Dubya need to get a life.
~~~
BR: I have to concur — The Gramms were creeps, but Laura Bush was not a vitriolic despoiler of the nation . . .
July 29th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Why wouldnt a Murdoch owned enity have broken this story? HMMM..just a coincidence im sure.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
GS settles with the SEC.
Citi pays to settle regulatory charges.
Justice department sues Oracle.
My goodness, where are the honest and ethical operators in the world?
July 29th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Rescission Says:
My goodness, where are the honest and ethical operators in the world?
—-
Trying to pick themselves up after being steamrolled by the Unethical Robber Barrons
riding the “Moral-less Express”
July 29th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Res,
These guys ARE the Republican party.
“…Are estimated to have given about $10 million to Republican causes…”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1435463/The-most-influential-US-conservatives-41-60.html
…the money source for the media nonsense that drives the niche single-issue voters against their self-interest. …The advertising/marketing zaibatsu that runs run the 24/7/365 campaign against technocrats using every silly little piece of nonsense to warp reality so the super rich can get tax cuts.
Aww… poor George W. Bush, that great statesmen. Gimmie a break.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
honest and ethical………i wonder how the Univ. of Michigan feels about Sam Wyly Hall now?
http://www.ur.umich.edu/9900/Apr17_00/8.htm
“…I’m honored to have Sam Wyly as a partner in our success.” – Business School Dean B. Joseph White
Dean White, who went on to serve as as interim president of the U Michigan and then White was named the sixteenth president of the University of Illinois in 2004 however the University of Illinois clout scandal lead to his and seven of nine university trustees resignations from their positions as a result of the scandal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Illinois_clout_scandal
“Upon first release, the most notable student to receive special consideration was a relative of Tony Rezko, who was convicted on sixteen charges of fraud and bribery and was a political contributor to then-governor Rod Blagojevich. ”
“In an email recovered through the state’s Freedom of Information Act, university president B. Joseph White wrote that Blagojevich “has expressed his support, and would like to see admitted” two applicants, including Rezko’s relative.”
“Other state officials implicated in providing social influence over admissions are Illinois Senate president John Cullerton, House Speaker Michael Madigan, state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias,U.S. Representative Tim Johnson, and Illinois Representatives Bill Mitchell and Chapin Rose.”
it goes on an on…..
I wonder if they’ll use the “well…everybody else is doing it” excuse?
July 30th, 2010 at 12:12 am
The faculty did.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-open-letter-college-clout-story,0,1629717.story?page=1/
July 30th, 2010 at 12:15 am
The use of Trust Protector is interesting. Probably a fair number of TBP readers use estate planning devices involving a Trust Protector in an otherwise “irrevocable” trust, typically the trusted family lawyer. For those not familiar with it, it’s a slick mechanism allowing some (indirect) control over disposition of trust assets while maintaining the appearance of not having control over trust assets. Control over trust assets (or lack thereof) is important when you go into the nursing home and Medicare wants to recoup the cost of your care. If they can show that your trust is a sham, they can reach the assets you try to protect.
Here, the SEC is alleging that the Wyly’s created a series of sham trusts that were constantly circumvented by giving instructions to the Protectors, a kind of “manual override” of the terms of the trust. At some point, constant manual override becomes the norm and the trust is a sham.
But seriously, BR, what’s up with you and the Wyly’s? Come on, you gotta spill something…
July 30th, 2010 at 12:26 am
I figuired someone would get to it but,
First Madoff made made off will a few billion.
Now a couple Wyly guys dodged around for years will a bit of cash.
Should the SEC just look into everyone with a name that tells you they’ll do something sketchy?
July 30th, 2010 at 12:31 am
I just realized Richard Bookstaber would be on the top of that list.
I swear I thought his name was cover until after I was through one of his books and looked him up.
July 30th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Rescission:
You need to read up on the Wyly’s involvement with Dubya. When you do, you’ll understand why people are so quick to jump on the former President.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:18 am
The term ‘systemic corruption’ implies that there is evidence that the system has been corrupted. From Wall Street through D.C. and down to most state capitol houses. Corporate culture is as corrupt as at any time in my 40+ years of experience. The inane Kudlows of the world arguing for a reduction in corporate tax rates rather misses the point that corporations in essence don’t PAY taxes. Look at the IRS corporate tax receipts line item! Back to the SEC and clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…
This comes as a shock? The SEC has been the Barney Fife of code enforcement for as long as I can remember.
Anyone who had dealings with Wyly’s UCC in the old days knew that when you shook hands with Sam, you always counted your fingers before you put your hand back in your pocket.
Misaligned interests began in earnest when Merrill went public. It’s been down hill ever since. They ‘trail blazed’ a model that transfered risk to shareholders and bond bag holders. What a hoot. Given a choice, would you invest with an LLP structure or a ULP one. ULP as in unlimited personal liability. I would choose the latter. If my manager’s (ULP) scheme blows up, at least I have access to his chateau, wine cellar, wife’s jewels and his kids trust funds…
The Wyly’s are just a pimple on the face of Dorian Gray.
July 30th, 2010 at 1:24 am
BR, I also find it very interesting to see the ‘shit for brains’ ‘jerk offs’ you choose to defend…..ummmm!
~~~
BR: Such as . . . ?
July 30th, 2010 at 1:35 am
CJ and 13A:
So a President has slimy friends, quit dumping on Obama! Oh wait….sorry, I mean, no guilt by association, depending of course on who it is….
Barry, you risk turning this place as a solid blog for economic insight into the MSNBC of the econ blog world. This place reads like a DNC website lately. You can’t even post a straightforward news item about the Wylie’s without a snide comment about political assocation? Funny, how there is very little defense of the Wylie’s here? I hope they get hung from a pole if true like a long line of political friends of Presidents and politicians have.
Of course, if it’s a Blankfein (or a Rezko or a Blago), it’s just, well, is what it is. Not Obama’s fault they knew them and/or took their money hand over fist. We only talk affiliation in one direction.
Anyway, I’m sure traffic is at a record high, you’re on TV all the time and have no doubt ingratiated yourself into much of the left wing blogosphere, however you truly do risk limiting this place to leftists and people who want to argue with them here instead of those who want to discuss what this place is here for.
Preview of tomorrow’s Big Picture: “Rangel reign at an end. How did George W. Bush ever let it get so far?”
~~~
BR: Charlie Rangel is a douchebag as well — he should resign. And John Kerry’s yacht stunt to avoid taxes in his own state proves he is just another asshole.
But those two shit-for-brains are not involved in US equities, markets, etc. — where as Madoff, Goldline, Wylys and the SEC have relevance to what we do around here. If that’s too complex for you to comprehend, well then, your at the wrong blog. . .
July 30th, 2010 at 3:25 am
cheapstocks,
You really wonder why Barry can get upset with the Reichpubliscums lately?
Take a look at this. Read it CAREFULLY: (try not to vomit while you do)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/911-responder-aid-package-fails-house_n_664562.html
Then, you tell me if Rep. Anthony Weiner is wrong to react the way he did here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/anthony-weiner-911-bill-ballistic_n_664568.html
The fact is: some people are trying to do things. Others just want to sabotage everything in the hope it’ll pay out politically. That should be enough for any person endowed with common sense to get really upset.
And you got a problem with that?
July 30th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Republicans for Clean Air (RCA) was a front group created by supporters of George W. Bush in his 2000 presidential primary campaign against John McCain. According to an April 6, 2000, article in the Dallas Observer, Rob Allyn was a key player in the George W. Bush campaign to discredit his rival and was paid $46,000 to help create the ad described below. [1].
Beginning in February 2000, RCA spent $2.5 million to run television ads in the key primary states of California, Ohio and New York. The ads showed McCain’s face superimposed on a backdrop of smokestacks belching dark clouds, accused McCain of voting against solar and renewable energy and claimed that then-Governor Bush was responsible for improving air quality in his home state of Texas.
In fact, as Texas-based columnist Molly Ivins observed, “Texas has very dirty air. According to the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation set up by NAFTA, we pollute more than any other state or Canadian province. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Texas is No. 1 in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, suspected carcinogens in the air, developmental toxins in the air, cancer risk and 10 other equally depressing categories.” [2]
The Center for Public Integrity noted that RCA “had neither an office nor a phone number, just a post office box in northern Virginia. The news media and McCain’s campaign scrambled to identify the group’s directors and backers”. [3] They noted that less than a week after the ads ran and McCain had been defeated on “Super Tuesday”, were the sponsors identified.
The money came from Dallas billionaires Sam and Charles Wyly, investment bankers and friends of Bush. Charles Wyly was a Bush “pioneer,” one of an elite group that raised $100,000 for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
Initially, RCA concealed its funding, using a loophole in Section 527 of the U.S. tax code, which requires political parties and political action committees to report their work to the Federal Election Commission. Under the loophole, groups involved in “issue advocacy” rather than explicit campaigning for candidates candidates were allowed to use the 527 status without reporting to the FEC, enabling groups like RCA to operate as what came to be called “stealth PACs.”
In response to the ads, the McCain campaign filed a complaint with the FCC about the RCA’s anonymity of Republicans for Clean Air. Bush himself defended the ads. “That’s part of the American process,” he said. “That’s what freedom of speech is all about. This allegation that somehow I’m involved with this is just totally ridiculous. It is uncalled-for. There is no truth to it.”
After the Wylys’ role in funding RCA became public knowledge, the Sierra Club issued a news release noting that the Wylys “have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to anti-environmental politicians who have voted to weaken the Clean Air Act.” Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope stated that the ads were “polluting the airwaves with false information about George W. Bush’s terrible environmental record. ‘Republicans for Clean Air’ should pull these ads that paint a false picture of Gov. Bush’s poor record governing the most polluted state in America.” [4]
Following public controversy over the role that RCA and other stealth PACs played in the 2000 election, Congress subsequently passed legislation requiring 527 organizations that engage in issue advocacy to publicly report their financing.
July 30th, 2010 at 7:05 am
I’d have to take issue with that. These boys from Texas are crooks. Instead of holding up banks they chose another method and in typical fashion hid behind their donations to the party of their choice. It is a pattern on a smaller scale that so many of the “bundlers” for Dem party officials who have been going to jail of late. But that said Rangle and Kerry get to f’k with billions and trillions. Kerry with his cap and trade insider trading scheme and Rangle via control of the Ways and Means committee.
What most of the people here don’t like is who these Texas crooks supported. If Soros ever goes down it would be the same on another blog.
No harm with a little red meat to the mob on occasion!
July 30th, 2010 at 7:14 am
SEC did NOT indict the Wylys. Indictment is the way the gov’t files a criminal case and this is a civil complaint brought by the SEC, which has no criminal enforcement powers. This complaint will NOT result in the Wylys spending time behind bars. There could be a criminal case, if the Department of Justice concludes there is a basis for one, but this ain’t it.
~~~
BR: You are right, and I use that word incorrectly all the time to describe the issuance of a civil complaint.
I will fix it above . . .
July 30th, 2010 at 9:08 am
From the looks of what has been reported, this was referred by the Manhattan DA years and years ago (during Dubya’s administration). For them to refer, they must have thought there was a crime. Five, six years later we get a civil complaint? The SEC are total and complete losers — or at least they apparently WERE for the duration of the last administration. Do we really think that, now that the “efficient markets hypothesis” is the punchline of a very expensive joke, they will go back to really investigating how Boards are interconnected, stockholder rights have been gutted, and GAP is only honored in the breach?
I regret to say I’ve lost hope.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:09 am
@Julia Chestnut:
It’s only when you abandon all hope that you can finally enjoy true freedom:)
An aside, when people dish on Texas, why doesn’t anyone point out perhaps the biggest douchebag politician ever to hail from the Lone Star State? That would be Lyndon Johnson. Any president that tries to personally direct bombing runs over North Vietnam from the White House basement is simply and utterly filled with so much hubris that he practically kills the troops under his command himself. Which he did, by the planeload of flag-draped coffins. Johnson set the bar pretty low for national politicians hailing from Texas. W still managed to squeeze under it.
July 30th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Madoff and now the (not so) Wyley brothers are tokens, symbolic gestures to placate the populace. I would not be surprised to eventually learn that both cases were brought to SEC’s attention by Goldman or Citi. Someone needs to take the fall, distract the masses, and make them believe the government is NOT run by Wall Street. Fall ol’ Madoff probably scammed Blankfein and Prince! The Wyley’s probably outscammed GS on a few shorts and made more money, pissing off the biggest egos on the Street.
When the CEO’s the major banks are fined massive amounts of money along with their boards and several dozen traders and executives are getting ass-raped in Sing-Sing, I will believe in America again. Until then, I remain an expat (yeah, yeah, it’s worse everywhere else…as if that’s an excuse for fraud, malgovernance, torture, murder, and war).
July 30th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Love the picture of them receiving what I believe is Eagle Scout status. Hope the Boy Scouts of America strips them of that! They must have missed a few classes.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Julia Chestnut:
” . . .this was referred by the Manhattan DA years and years ago (during Dubya’s administration). For them to refer, they must have thought there was a crime.”
Actually, the DA’s referring it to the SEC, which does not prosecute crimes, suggests at least as strongly that the DA did not think there was a crime, only a civil violation of the securities laws. If the DA thought there was a crime, it’s more likely they would have prosecuted it under state law or referred it to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan for prosecution under federal law.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:26 am
@ Calvin Jones: Thanks. I will do that. Never heard of the guys until yesterday.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:46 am
@FrancoisT:
I read you links. Are you blaming the dems for not allowing republican amendments regarding illegals and for requiring a 2/3 vote to approve the aid? I am confused.
July 30th, 2010 at 11:52 am
BR: “(how is it that the FT scoops US papers?)”
Whadda mean ? They are ALL OVER the Chelsea Clinton wedding.
July 30th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Uh BR you forgot R. Allan Stanford.
Also this is probably also about the fact that Sam Wyly has all his money in an Ilse of Man trust of which he is the sole controller to evade taxes. Even the watch he wears (formerly FDR’s) is owned by the trust.
~~~
BR: Here are the Alan Stanford mentions
July 30th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
This is just one of the Wyly links.
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/isle-of-man-business/FSC-REJECTS-US-SENATE39S-39TAX.1679182.jp
July 30th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
“Uh BR you forgot R. Allan Stanford.”
Much smarter than fellow Texans, the Wyly’s, when it comes to giving. The majority of Stanford’s millions in donations went to Dems some via the Ben Barnes Group, a lobbying firm. Ben Barnes? Vice chair and top fund raiser for the Kerry campaign. It’s a small world out there. Kerry vs Bush and Stanford vs Wyly’s.
Stanford rips off 8 billion and mums the word!
July 30th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Uncertainty, deficits, fraud – don’t you know those only apply to Democrats? I think it is defined as such in the conservative wikipedia. ;-)
July 31st, 2010 at 12:55 am
Did Wyly Coyotes’ Ill-Gotten Loot Buy White House?
Monday, April 11, 2005
When the feds swoop down and cuff racketeers, they also load the vans with all the perp’s ill-gotten gains: stacks of cash, BMWs, hideaway houses, whatever. Their associates have to cough up the goodies too — lady friends must give up their diamond rocks.
Under the racketeering law, RICO, even before a verdict, anything bought with the proceeds of the crime goes into the public treasury.
But there seems to be special treatment afforded those who loaded up on the ‘bennies’ of crimes committed by George Bush’s buddies.
On Friday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office announced it had captured a couple of Texas varmints, the Wyly Brothers, Charles and Sam. The two have ‘fessed to concealing half their holdings in one of the rich boys’ companies, Michaels Stores. The grand jury is still out on deciding to indict the two for the crime of fraud upon the stock market.
Who are these guys? The billionaire brothers are “Pioneers” – not the kind that built little houses on the prairie, but the kind that agreed to raise over a hundred grand for George W. Bush’s first Presidential run. Sam anted up more than a quarter million for the Republican National Committee in 2000.
But that’s just the tip of the cash-berg for Bush. In 2000, Sen. John McCain was wiping the electoral floor with Bush Jr. in the Republican primaries — until that March when the Wylys secretly put up two and half million dollars for a campaign to smear Bush’s opponent just days before the crucial Southern primaries.
They repeated the trick in 2004, putting up cash for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the vicious little snipes who tore apart the Kerry campaign.
So what makes these guys so thrilled with Mr. Bush? There are more than ninety million reasons. While George W. was governor of Texas, investigative reporter Joe Conason discovered, a Wyly family private investment fund, Maverick Capital of Dallas, was awarded a state contract to invest $90 million for the University of Texas endowment.
That’s not all. As Governor, Bush signed into law an electricity “deregulation” bill that was little more than an ill-disguised raid on consumers’ wallets by Texas power companies. The bill was in part drafted by an outfit called GreenMountain.com, a power company owned by — Sam Wyly.
On the day George W. signed the deregulation bill, Sam Wyly said, “Governor Bush’s hard work and leadership have paid off.” And, it seems, in 2000 and 2004, the Wylys paid back.
Last week, the Wyly brothers, knowing law men will probably seize their gains anyway, announced they would turn over their hidden loot to Michaels Stores’ treasury — a kind gesture, like a bank-robber turning over stolen cash in hopes of leniency.
But what about the racketeering rule requiring all cronies of the wrongdoers to give up the benefits of alleged crime?
If the G-men don’t know where the tainted booty is cached, try this address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Ask for George or Dick.
Now it might be unfair to say that George Bush’s campaigns succeeded solely because of the Wyly’s loot. After all, the number one campaign contributors were Pioneer Ken Lay and his associates at Enron.
OK now, Mr. President, give it back- the millions stuffed in the pockets of the Republican campaign kitty filched from Enron retirees and the suckers in the stock market who didn’t have the inside track like the Wylys.
When I worked as a racketeering investigator for government, nothing was spared, including houses bought with purloined loot. Let there be no exception here. It’s time to tape up the White House gate and hang the sign: “Crime Scene: Property to be Confiscated. Vacate Premises Immediately.”
******
Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, the Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Subscribe to his columns at http://www.GregPalast.com Out in this month’s Harper’s Magazine: Palast uncovers the secret State Department documents dividing up Iraq’s oil.
August 2nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Ken Lay, Wyly Brothers….So how many other Bush Pioneers were crooks?
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:20 pm
@Patrick Neid: “The majority of Stanford’s millions in donations went to Dems some via the Ben Barnes Group, a lobbying firm.”
Not exactly. Republicans Katherine Harris and Tom Delay were Stanford fellow travelers. Although Dem Bill Nelson took a lot of Stanford money, as did the 2002 DSCC. Stanford was an equal opportunity crook, dishing out $5 mil in lobbying and donations over 10 years.