Frist Knew About Blind Trust Investments

[Tony_FLADEM]

Despite Denials, Frist Updated on His Investments in Blind Trust Investments
By JONATHAN M. KATZ and LARRY MARGASAK Associated Press Writers
The Associated Press
Sep. 24, 2005 - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was updated several times about his investments in blind trusts during 2002, the last time two weeks before he publicly denied any knowledge of what was in the accounts, documents show.

The updates included stock transactions involving HCA Inc., the hospital operating company founded by Frist's family.

Frist's sale of HCA stock is under scrutiny by the federal government. Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA said Friday it had received a subpoena from prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, asking for documents the company believes are related to Frist's sale of company stock this past summer.

[FreedomAngel82]

1. Of course he did

The timing tells all.

[zara]

2. The trust was not BLIND

That's the legal question. Whether he saw more than he was allowed.
That, and what his family told him about the company books ahead of the sale.
Two exposures.

[Mr_Spock]

3. He may be in trouble.

I noticed two of top four Yahoo stories (political section?) were on this topic. Not good.

[gratuitous]

4. Frist himself called it a blind trust

And it clearly didn't qualify as a blind trust. The beneficiary of a blind trust isn't supposed to know what's in the trust. In the case of an elected official, that official knows (obviously) what assets went into the trust, what stocks, bonds, certificates and other instruments he was holding at the time the trust was created.

But the management of that trust is turned over to the manager of the trust. Frist obviously knew that, even years down the line from when the trust was first created, that he still held HCA stock. That in and of itself means that the trust was not "blind." The manager of the trust could have sold off the HCA stock at any time, and Frist would have never known it.

Additionally, the management of the assets is supposed to be up to the manager in his sole discretion. The beneficiary of the trust isn't supposed to be in control of the trust assets, yet Frist ordered the sale of an asset from the trust, which he wasn't supposed to know was even there. This is not a blind trust.

Frist is now lamely asserting that he sold his HCA stock to avoid some unidentified conflict of interest. Yet prior to this, Frist has been involved in several bills that would have affected the value of HCA stock.

This is corruption, pure and simple. In a just society, Mr. Frist would be answering some hard questions in a court of law. In the corrupt America of George W. Bush, he just made a big pile of money.