Dec 03 2009
Rand Accused of Insider Trading
When Tony Rand announced he was stepping down from the Senate he gave the reason that he was accepting a position as Chairman of the State Parole Board. However, like others, I imagine, I couldn’t help to wonder if we’d be hearing about some nefarious activity shortly down the pike. A seasoned politician like Rand doesn’t typically just step down in the middle of a term unless some kind of notoriety is heading in their direction. This latest bit of news may be just that.
The former president of a publicly traded Raleigh company is accusing state Sen. Tony Rand of sharing insider information with other North Carolina politicians.
Paul Feldman, who says he was illegally fired from Law Enforcement Associates in August, made the claims in a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. He said that Rand, one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers, schemed to profit from insider trading and manipulating the value of the company’s stock.
Now being as fair and impartial as we are here at CPO we’ll give Mr. Rand the benefit of the doubt. Insider trading is hard to prove and the fact that several North Carolina politicians bought stock in LEA doesn’t necessarily point to them receiving insider information from Rand. They may have invested in it because he is the board chairman and trusted his leadership of the company.
If, however, these accusations prove to be truthful it would be quite a shame that Rand didn’t learn from the sacrifices of one Ms Martha Stewart.
