CREW FILES ADDITIONAL ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. FRIST

25 Oct 2005 // Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an additional complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senator William Frist (R-TN) alleging that Senator Frist was well aware that the he held HCA stock at a time when he denied any knowledge of such holdings. The complaint points to recent press reports and letters from trustees to Senator Frist as evidence that the Senator was aware of his holdings.

The original complaint CREW filed on September 26, 2005, alleged that the Senator violated Senate ethics rules by engaging in apparent insider trading and then attempting to cover it up.

This past June, Sen. Frist sold all of his, his wife’s and his children’s stock in, HCA, shortly before the value of the stock fell sharply. Notably, Sen. Frist’s brother sits on HCA’s board of directors and other members of the board also sold HCA stock before its value fell. Although Sen. Frist has owned HCA stock prior to his initial election to the Senate in 1994, Sen. Frist now claims that he sold the stock because of a conflict of interest.

The complaint refers the ethics committee to information that has come to light since CREW filed its initial complaint, namely that -- despite his statements that he did know whether he held HCA stock -- Senator Frist had repeatedly received information from his trustees clearly stating that he and his family held HCA stock