Cantor secretly exempts spouses from insider trading law
Eric Cantor was caught by CNN gutting a bill that would have stopped elected officials from insider trading on congressional knowledge. He secretly made spouses and children exempt from reporting requirements. What was his motive? Could he be hiding his wife's role as a partner in a hedge fund management firm with assets in the Cayman Islands?
Read Mudcat Saunders' post, "New Information" Is Cantor-ese for "I Got Caught", on the Huffington Post
Read the details and examine the evidence below.
Eric Cantor tried to block the STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act, a bill that would have made it possible to catch elected officials who engage in illegal insider trade using confidential information they got while doing their jobs.
When he couldn’t stop the bill, he stripped out the part that would have exposed the work of people who sell insider information to Wall Street hedge fund managers about what is happening in the back rooms of government. Then he stripped out the part that gives federal prosecutors more power to go after corruption by elected officials.
Senators including Chuck Grassley were outraged at the changes that substantially weakened the law.
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I know that today’s actions only serve the desires of obscure and powerful Wall Street interests and undercut the will of an overwhelming majority of Congress. |
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The lobbyists get rich. Wall Street traders get rich. But the American people lose. That is the tragic result of the Majority Leader’s decision. |
Cantor did ultimately vote to pass the Bill in its weakened form and made the rounds of television appearances patting himself on the back for his work.
Only after the bill was passed and instructions for complying with it were produced in the House and Senate, did other lawmakers discover that Cantor had also stripped out the language that required reporting on stock trades by spouses and children of members of Congress - making the law totally meaningless. If it wasn't for an investigative report by CNN, they might have never noticed.
Why should it matter so much to Eric Cantor whether spouses and children have to report their stock trades? In Cantor's case, his wife Diana is a partner in a major hedge fund management firm, Alternative Investment Management (AIM).
Alternative Investment Management manages $893,667,480 in investments, 81% of which are in hedge funds, including $134 million in one private hedge fund in the Cayman Islands.
Strangely enough, it appear that Alternative Investment Management is also hiding Diana Cantor's role in their firm.
Diana Cantor is the third name listed on AIM's website and she has the title of "Partner". She is also listed on Eric Cantor's financial disclosure reports for 2010 and 2011 as having received a salary from AIM. But for some unknown reason, her name doesn't appear on any of AIM's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This omission raises serious questions about Diana Cantor's role at AIM and whether her relationship with House Majority Leader and her access to political inside information have anything to do with it.
It would also be good to know how much Diana Cantor is being paid by AIM as a partner, but Eric Cantor's financial disclosure statements list her salary at AIM as "Not Applicable".
Why Is Eric Cantor Blocking the Congressional Insider Trading Act?
CNBC.com
Eric Cantor under fire for STOCK Act tweaks
Politico
Statement by Senator Charles E. Grassley
Office of Senator Charles Grassley
Bringing Political Intelligence Agents Out of the Shadows
Senator Chuck Grassley Statement on YouTube
Majority Leader Eric Cantor Press Conference on STOCK Act
YouTube Source: Eric Cantor
Congressional insider trading ban might not apply to families
CNN exclusive
Alternative Investment Management
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WHAT WE DO: AIM invests in alternative assets, with a focus on private equity and hedge funds. Our investors include high net worth individuals and family offices, foundations, endowments, corporate and public pension plans, and other personal and institutional tax-exempt capital. |
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Diana Cantor, Partner. Prior to joining the firm, Diana was a Managing Director of New York Private Bank & Trust and served for over a decade as the founding Executive Director of the Virginia College Savings Plan, the state agency that administers Virginia’s Section 529 college savings plans. Under her leadership the plan she created grew to be the largest in the nation with more than 4 million accounts representing over $27 billion in assets under management. Prior to her state service, Diana was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York, serving as chief administrator of their leveraged buyout and internal investment funds and merchant banking operations. She also practiced law in the real estate department of the New York office of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler. Etc. |
Alternative Investment Management, LLC, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Investment Advisor Public Disclosure Form ADV: Uniform Application For Investment Adviser Registration
Form ADV, Item 5, Information About Your Advisory Business - Regulatory Assets Under Management
AIM manages 8 accounts totaling $893,667,481
Form ADV, Schedule A - Direct Owners and Executive Officers
Diana Cantor is not listed under Direct Owners and Executive Officers despite being listed as a Partner
Form ADV, Schedule D, Section 7.B.(1) Private Fund Reporting
Of the $893,667,481 in assets under management, $726,697,728 or 81% is in hedge funds, one of which, Thirteen Partners Offshore, Ltd., holds $134,570,536 in assets and is located in the Cayman Islands.
Eric Cantor Financial Disclosure Statements
2011 - see page 2
Reports spouse salary at Alternative Investment Management, LLC. Amount = N/A
2010 - see page 2
Reports spouse salary at Alternative Investment Management, LLC. Amount = N/A
2009 - see page 2
Reports spouse salary at New York Private Bank & Trust. Amount = N/A
2008 - see page 2
Reports spouse salary at New York Private Bank & Trust. Amount = N/A
U.S. Department of Treasury - Troubled Asset Relief Program Transactions Reports
07/23/2012 Transactions Report - Investment Programs: New York Private Bank & Trust Corporation, New York, NY. Purchase Date: 1/9/2009, Investment Amount - $267,274,000, Capital Repayment Amount - $0
