While taxpayers were paying to lay fiber optics to K Street (See Edgewood Story, Part I), while their kids went without on line access and computer use and education, it turns out that their children's teachers were deducting the cost of George W. Bush's dry holes from their retirement savings: Addendum from Page 212 of The Buying of the President 2000: Finally, nine years after its investment in Harken helped save Bush from financial ruin, Harvard Management Company got a deal on a piece of real estate it bought from the Texas Teachers Retirement System. In 1995 the Texas Teachers Retirement System sold the Anatole Hotel is Dallas to a partnership that included the Crow family, which owns a controlling interest in Trammell Crow Company, one of the nation's top real estate management companies, and Harvard Management. Without taking bids, the Texas Teachers Retirement reportedly sold the hotel for $27 million less than it had spent to make improvements on the structure. ============================================================================ ========================================== > -----Original Message----- > From: Catherine Austin Fitts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2000 11:59 PM > To: CIA-Drugs > Subject: What do HUD/NHP and Harken Have In Common?....First, Michael > Eisensohn of Harvard Management/Harvard Endowment as Boardmember > > > In my description of the Edgewood Story in Edgewood III, I > described the person who sat on NHP's board from Harvard > Management/Endowment and who was in charge of Harvard's > substantial investment in one of the largest HUD apartment > property managers and portfolios from 1989-1997 as follows: > > ================================================================== > ==================================================== > > Harvard Endowment, which owned a majority of NHP's stock, had > submitted bids on the early HUD loan sales, and had complained to > me at the time that our use of Internet accessible databases and > Bell Labs optimization technology had made the auctions much more > open to lots of investors. The person leading both the NHP > investment and the bid for Harvard on the first large HUD loan > sale complained, "I don't like this [Hamilton's use of Bell Labs > optimization technology to auction HUD mortgages] because the > only way we can win is by paying more than our competitors. We > prefer a bid process where we can win by 'gaming' it because we > are 'smarter'." This Harvard philosophy may explain why Harvard > gave up on the competitive process and turned to political > "gaming" to make sure that Harvard could avoid losing control to > investor groups like those sponsored by Goldman Sachs and > BlackRock. It would also explain why Rod and Gene Ford, [who was > lead partner of the company that developed the Edgewood project] > got increasingly upset about certain BlackRock activities. > > ================================================================== > ====================================================== > > To be more precise, the fellow's name was Michael Eisensohn. > > I continue to consider Harvard a responsible party for what was > described to me by one of their partners as "well, we tried to > have you fired by the White House, but that did not work, so now > the boys have gotten together and now you are going to jail". > This relay of the information about Harvard/NHP's arranging for > my incarceration as well as the rest of the story will be > described in Edgewood IV which we will publish on our website > after our next round of hearings. > > I posted to the list the information that Harvard had been the > lead investor in Harken. Since the real estate and oil and gas > portfolio was all part of one group under Mike Eisensohn, I > assumed that there was a tie in between George W. and NHP, but I > was unable to dig up further specifics beyond what was documented > in the Harpers Article, Tom Flocco's articles and a few other pieces. > > Well, bravo for Charles Lewis and the Center for Public Integrity > who have now confirmed Mr. Eisensohn's role as in charge of both > Harvard's Bush and HUD investments. Here it is from Page 200-201 > to this charming and informative book, chuck full of nuggets on > Mike, Harvard and other NHP Board Members and/or their other > investments as well (Pub Winokaur, Lloyd Culter, etc): > > ================================================================== > =========================================== > > Indeed, once Bush signed on, business at Harken began to pick up. > > When Harken bought out Spectrum 7, the company was broke and > desperately needed a cash infusion.. As the talks with Spectrum 7 > progressed, Harken officials were lining up a major new financial > backer: Harvard Management Company, Inc. The investment firm's > only client is Harvard University; it manages the school's > multi-billion dollar endowment. > > A month after Bush came on board, Harvard Management agreed to > invest at least $20MM in Harken. it would eventually come to own > some ten millions shares of Harken's stock, making it one of the > company's largest investors. > > The Bush name may have helped seal the deal. > > Michael Eisensohn, a partner in Harvard Management Company, who > sat on Harken's board of directors, said that he and other > Harvard officials picked Harken after reviewing several proposals > from energy companies. "Harken management seemed capable and > honest," Eisensohn said. > > The Bush name certainly would have made an impression on > Eisensohn's boss, Robert Stone, Jr., who was one of Harvard > Management's directors. Stone was the "driving force" behind > Harvard's Southwest oil and gas investments, according to Scott > Sperling, who worked with Eisensohn at Harvard. Stone himself was > a player in the Texas oil and gas industry; at the time, he was > the chairman of Kirby Exploration, an oil and gas transportation > company based in Houston. As a longtime resident of Greenwich, > Connecticut, he also knew the Bushes. His father in law, Godfrey > Rockefeller, had invested in George Bush's oil drilling ventures > in the 1940's. Stone's brother, Galen L. Stone, was the US envoy > to Cyprus during the first Reagan-Bush Administration. In 1980 > and 1988 he contributed to the elder Bush's presidential campaign. ..... > > ..... > > Harken was Harvard Management's first major investment in Texas > wildcat operations, a part of the university's investment history > it would rather forget. The investments in oil and gas would > eventually generate nearly $200 million in loses for the endowment. > > The university's commitment to Harken was suprising in view of > the bad shape the company was in. "I took some time and looked at > it and I went, God, I don't want to be anywhere near this," a > prospective investor in Harken from the late 1980's told the > Center. "This thing looks like a train wreck." > > By Harken executives' own accounts, the company's financial > statements were "a mess" and " a fast numbers game" But insiders > insist that Harvard's money managers wouldn't have kept pumping > money into Harken if they didn't thing it would become profitable. > > For a time, they had reason to believe it would. > > The Bahrain agreement, announced on January 30, 1990, seemed to > justify Harvard's enthusiasm for Harken. > > .......(There follows a long description of Bush selling his > stock for a profit and the violations of fiduciary standards as > well as SEC law and a few other practices described in the > Harper's article and the World Net Daily Article) > > One of the questions the SEC didn't answer was who bought Bush's stock. > > In his statement of intent to sell, which Bush also had to file > with the SEC, he said he was putting his 212,140 shares on the > open market. That was nearly twenty times the daily volume of > stock that traded on average during June 1990; without a buyer > willing to absorb such a large block of stock, the share price > would have plummeted. > > Under questioning by SEC investigators, Ralph Smith, a Los > Angeles broker with Sutro & Company, who handled the sale, said > that he solicited the shares at the behest of an institutional > investor, which he didn't name. > > The available evidence suggests that the investor was Harvard. > The university increased its holdings in Harken around the time. > No new institutional investors appeared on the scene. At the > bottom of a spreadsheet Smith used to record his calls to Bush > was the name of Michael Eisensohn, along with the telephone > number of Harvard Management. (Eisensohn did not return the > Center's telephone calls). > > The Buying of The President > 2000, Pages 200-204, Chapter on George W. Bush > > ================================================================== > ============================================ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LOW RATE, NO WAIT! Get a NextCard Visa, in 30 seconds! Get rates as low as 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Learn more at: http://click.egroups.com/1/937/3/_/475667/_/955285625/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
