Frist: Saved by His Crackberry

by emptywheel

The WaPo reports today that Bill Frist was cleared last week of any wrongdoing in selling his family stock.

At issue in the long-running investigation was the sale of all of Frist's remaining HCA shares by July 8, 2005, a few days before a downbeat forecast that sent HCA's stock price tumbling by 9 percent in a single day. Executives at the Equitable Trust and Northern Trust,  who maintained Frist's stock in private accounts, sold the stock after receiving his orders.

The timing triggered multiple federal investigations and months of complex legal reviews. Ultimately, Frist -- a devotee of the BlackBerry  device -- produced a paper trail that suggested he began the process of selling the stock in late April 2005, months before he knew of HCA's troubles. According to his records, he consulted with a staff attorney at that time, when he said he was unaware of HCA's problems collecting payments from uninsured patients.

Frist said that subsequent reviews by an outside attorney and a Senate ethics panel delayed the sale until the summer of 2005, the time of company's financial downturn.

As a final step in the investigation, Frist had a formal interview with Justice Department  and SEC lawyers to address the stock sales in late January 2007, according to people familiar with his account. Spokesmen for the SEC and Michael J. Garcia, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment yesterday.

How about that? A Republican saved--rather than screwed--by his crackberry habit. While this is an example of a Bush-appointed USA clearing a formerly-top Republican, there sure seems to be a good deal of evidence to support Frist's story.

Comments

[Warren]

How about that? A Republican saved--rather than screwed--by his crackberry habit.

So … this whole time he's just been Fristing himself?

[marksb]

Garbage, bullshit, and falderall!
Anyone who is at the top (or major investor) of a company regularly consults with the finance people and the execs, even if only to ask: how's it going? What's going on with this contract or that one? Any problems? "Downbeat forecasts" don't just happen, they take months, sometimes years to develop from initial weak sales, accounts that aren't renewing contracts, cost and labor issues, etc. The idea that a major investor didn't know in April about a weak forecast revealed less than three months later is ludicrous.
But that paper trail saves his ass this time. Good for him. But it still walks/talks/smells like a duck.

[emptywheel]

Yup, you're probably right, marksb. As the article suggests:

To proceed with an insider-trading case, authorities require proof that a person bought or sold stock on the basis of secret information that other investors would have wanted to know. The legal standards are high, particularly in the absence of incriminating documents and testimony from people involved in the decision to sell the stock.

[Jodi]

My father, a military doctor has known Dr Frist a long time. He is a very nice man. Dr Frist is wealthy because of pioneer work in the health provider field.

Dad and I both differed with Dr Frist on the Schiavo case. My 2nd brother, a doctor also, leaned toward Frist's side. It made some interesting family discussions, with my mom, a former military nurse, of course refereeing.

Dr Frist got in a slight bit of trouble with the medical organizations for giving a diagnosis of the case on the Senate floor.
He can be controversial but it is mainly because he is innovative, and not afraid of speaking out or jumping into the fray.

[marksb]

Innovation in medicine: diagnosing on the Senate floor from a video tape, with no other medical history or test results. Sounds like Microsoft's definition of innovation, you know, the "blue screen of death"? I can hear it now: "Just reboot him!"

[Sally]

Jodi seems to have the inside track on all things Republic.

[Sally]

Jodi seems to have the inside track on all things Republic.

[oldtree]

Mr. Frist will perhaps face a real investigation when the fox isn't in charge of investigating another fox. The humorous reference to a sociopath being a nice man would make a rational person question your sense of reality. There is no doubt that this fellow knew he was going to lose a ton, so took insider info and bailed. He got people that the government of the united states knows to be corrupt, to exonerate him. All most amusing. It is however hard to imagine anything farther from the truth.

[freepatriot]

so am I to believe that these new fangled blackberry contraptions can be used as objects of derision ???

or

what the fuck is a "crackberry" ???

is that anything like "toe jam" ???

I know, I know, this ain't that kind of blog

so the cat killer was spared by a technicality (does a high standard of proof count as a technicality ???)

too bad frist ain't on the menu in 2008

oh well, we still have the memories, and the video tape ...

[obsessed]

Frist is wealthy from using our criminally corrupt corporate healthcare system to ream us all financially similarly to the way he used torture his cat. Jodi likes this kind of thing - me, not so much.

But does this mean Frist can run for President now? That would be good for a few laughs.

[pollyusa]

Off Topic, but I thought you must be interested.

He describes an episode in 2003, shortly after he issued a statement taking partial responsibility for that error. He said he was invited over for a Sunday afternoon, back-patio lemonade by Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state. Mr. Powell described what Mr. Tenet called “a lively debate” on Air Force One a few days before about whether the White House should continue to support Mr. Tenet as C.I.A. director.

“In the end, the president said yes, and said so publicly,” Mr. Tenet wrote. “But Colin let me know that other officials, particularly the vice president, had quite another view.”
WaPo 4/27/07

I have a feeling I might be able to figure out which flight Mr.Powell was referring to. The meeting between Tenet and Powell probably occurred on July 13, 2003 a couple of days after Tenet's statement and the same day that WaPo published the Pincus and Allen article entitled "CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct." WaPo 7/13/03

[pollyusa]

Off Topic, but I thought you must be interested.

He describes an episode in 2003, shortly after he issued a statement taking partial responsibility for that error. He said he was invited over for a Sunday afternoon, back-patio lemonade by Colin L. Powell, then secretary of state. Mr. Powell described what Mr. Tenet called “a lively debate” on Air Force One a few days before about whether the White House should continue to support Mr. Tenet as C.I.A. director.

“In the end, the president said yes, and said so publicly,” Mr. Tenet wrote. “But Colin let me know that other officials, particularly the vice president, had quite another view.”
WaPo 4/27/07

I have a feeling I might be able to figure out which flight Mr.Powell was referring to. The meeting between Tenet and Powell probably occurred on July 13, 2003 a couple of days after Tenet's statement and the same day that WaPo published the Pincus and Allen article entitled "CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct." WaPo 7/13/03

[emptywheel]

so am I to believe that these new fangled blackberry contraptions can be used as objects of derision ???

While I believe the term crackberry is generally used by blackberry users making fun of their own addictions, yes, it is an appropriate term of deirision.

[freepatriot]

hmmmmm, let's give this a try

Hey, Get yer head out of yer crackberry

how's that ???

I'm here till tuesday, tip yer waiter

[Jodi]

Dr Frist might run for again for Senate in 2014, or President in 2012 or 2016 (especially if he regains the Senate seat) or the Governor and then for President. But I don't know of his plans.

(since someone mentioned it)

[Charlie King]

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