Apparently, the good senator from Tennessee traded the shares of CBL so well, the WSJ is now running reports on him, pointing to possible insider trading allegations. I know Corker has been a supporter of Trump and the WSJ editorial board have been livid, Bayer foam mouthed, haters of The Donald. Nonetheless, the good Senator has been trading CBL like a wizard. In this country, that is illegal and can get you 200 lashes at the gibbet.
The WSJ witch hunt continues.
In regard to Mr. Corker, Stephen Lebovitz said that “nobody at CBL has disclosed to him or to any other outside party any insider information, and we are unaware of any claim or allegation by any regulatory agency that suggests otherwise. We strongly deny any such allegations.”
Many of Mr. Corker’s trades were large. Fifteen of the trades were valued between $500,001 and $1 million; 30 were valued between $1 million and $5 million; and three were larger than $5 million, according to the senator’s financial disclosure filings. The filings require disclosure of stock holdings and transactions, but only in broad ranges of value.
A Journal analysis of Mr. Corker’s trading in CBL shows that he didn’t make money on every trade and in some cases he lost money.
In a 2011 article on Mr. Corker’s CBL investments, Mr. Corker said that by tracking the company’s stock for many years, he noticed that its shares traded within a range. “I’ve bought it heavily when it is at the low end of that range and then I hold it until there is upward movement, when I sell,” he said in a statement at the time.
In November, the Journal reported that Mr. Corker had failed to properly disclose several CBL trades on his personal financial statements filed with Congress.
In one of these purchases, Mr. Corker bought between $1 million and $5 million in CBL shares on Nov. 29, 2011, according to updated financial-disclosure statements that he filed after questions from the Journal. The stock rose nearly 7% the next day and continued to climb. He sold the stock in May 2012 for between $5 million and $25 million after the stock had risen 42%, representing a gain of between $420,000 and $2.1 million, according to a Journal analysis of the trade.
In another case, Mr. Corker failed to disclose that he bought CBL stock near its low of $2.07, according to the updated financial-disclosure statements. On March 9, 2009, accounts in the name of his daughters made a pair of purchases worth a total of $200,000 to $500,000. The first time any CBL shares were sold from those accounts, on May 12, 2010, the stock had risen to about $16. That transaction likely made a gain of at least $1 million.
According to Mr. Corker’s office, losses on other CBL trades in his children’s accounts in 2010 erased that gain. The same accounts had paid about $24 a share for more than $2 million of CBL shares in 2008. A year later, the stock hit $2 and closed Monday at $10.29.
Mr. Corker later amended his financial statements and blamed the errors on his former accountant.
Ms. Johnson, the Corker spokeswoman, said she believes the questions into Mr. Corker have been prompted by the Campaign for Accountability, a nonpartisan organization that has filed several complaints with the Senate Ethics Committee about Mr. Corker’s financial activity.
I don’t like Senator Corker or any Senator for that matter. But I hate these stone throwers ever more. The vilification of success is rampant in this country. From what I’m reading, Corker traded CBL because he liked to. He got accustomed to its ranges and made some money doing it. What’s so fucking surprising about that? We do this every day.
Separately, CBL is under investigation by the FBI and the SEC for accounting irregularities, which is the main reason why the stock is getting poleaxed this morning.
I wonder if this has anything to do with rumors that Trump may select Corker as his running mate.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/23/politics/bob-corker-donald-trump-meeting/