Salon.com/Politics
Aluminum Sliding
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill promised to dump his Alcoa stock in
March. He still hasn't -- and might have bagged $62 million as a
result.
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By Jake Tapper
June 7, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- More than two months ago, Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill agreed to sell $100 million in stock in Alcoa,
the aluminum company he used to run, announcing on ABC's "This Week"
that he had told his staff, "Let's get this off the table" in order to
avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
For now, though, O'Neill's stocks are still very much on the table. He
has not fully divested and refuses to say just how much stock he has
left in his former company. But he almost surely has earned millions
off the stock as its price has soared in recent months -- in part
because of initiatives by the federal government.
By delaying his sale of the stock, O'Neill could have reaped a $62
million windfall.
By Thursday, Alcoa's stock had increased in value about 30 percent
since O'Neill made that March 25 announcement, promising to divest
from the company he ran for 13 years. Michele Davis, a Treasury
spokeswoman, said that O'Neill had sold some of his stock, but would
not say how much, refusing to characterize his transaction as either
large or small, saying only that "it will all be gone by June 22. His
financial advisors are selling pieces of it on a routine basis."
Davis claims that O'Neill's sale of Alcoa stock has been underway
since "maybe April." But as of Thursday, the Securities and Exchange
Commission had no record showing that O'Neill had sold any shares of
Alcoa. And according to Peter Romeo, a Washington securities lawyer,
the SEC would "almost certainly" have to be notified had any large
transaction by a former chairman gone through. Davis did not return a
call for further comment.
Considering the meteoric rise of Alcoa stock since O'Neill's March 25
pledge, such a delay makes financial, if not ethical, sense.
After all, O'Neill left Alcoa with 2.37 million shares of stock and
3.77 million in stock options. Had he held on to all of his stocks as
Alcoa's stock price has shot to the roof in the last few months, he
would now be significantly richer -- $62 million richer.
Rest of article:
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/06/07/oneill/index.html
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