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Hillary
Clinton 2005 Tax Return - Up to $25 Million in a Blind Trust - Income For Speeches Over $5 Million while a Senator
There are no rules for Senators prescribed by the Senate Ethics Committee that
directly prohibit them from owning shares in companies that deal with the federal
government. Despite the rules in place, conflicts of interest for elected
officials in Congress arise all the time.
Public filings show that Barack Hussein Obama Jr. bought somewhere between $15,000 and
$50,000 worth of Skyterra shares in February 2005. Burton says there was a mistake made on
the senator's disclosure form and that he actually invested between $50,000 and $100,000
in shares of Skyterra. The discrepancy is in the process of being corrected.
Skyterra, based in Reston, Va., is controlled by the New York private equity firm Apollo
Management. The company, which didn't return repeated calls seeking comment for this
story, holds stakes in several technology companies, including a satellite communications
outfit called Mobile Satellite Ventures.
Obama's purchase came right around the time that MSV received approval from the Federal
Communications Commission to construct a nationwide wireless network with both satellite
and terrestrial components.
According to OMB Watch, which tracks the spending habits of the federal government, MSV
received $167,064 in federal funds in 2004, and 28% of that money came from so-called
no-bid contracts.
According to public filings, Obama purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of shares in
AVI on Feb. 22, 2005, when the stock was trading at just above $2. He then sold his stake
on Oct. 28 of that year, when the stock closed at $3.47 that day, suggesting Obama had
roughly a 73% gain.
AVI shares had popped in early October 2005 on news that the U.S. Senate Committee on
Appropriations had approved $22 million for AVI's research and development programs as
part of a 2006 defense spending bill.
That money was contingent on approval by the full Senate, and AVI ultimately received $11
million from that bill. Last December, the company announced that it was awarded a
two-year $28 million research contract to explore treatments for biological warfare and
bioterrorism agents. That was a big deal for a company that recorded just $4.7 million in
annual revenue in 2005.
AVI's Moede says executives told her that they've had no interactions with Obama and that
they were not aware of his buying and selling in AVI shares.
Burton says the Senator recorded a profit of roughly $2,000 on the trade, leaving him in
the red for his stock trading in 2005 by $13,000
These two moves do raise the question of whether there are ethical issues that should have
restrained the senator from investing in shares of such unusual companies at a time when
they were benefiting from federal funding.
It's not uncommon to find elected officials in Congress who hold investments in companies
that receive federal funding or provide testimony to their legislative committees. In
fact, it's hard to find any politicians with money in the stock market who aren't at least
indirectly invested in a major government contractor, such as General Electric or Boeing
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