Hi Joe,
Proud to have Warren as my senator. By the way, she coined an apt term for
many of Trump's appointees. She calls them swamp monsters and Price is one
of the worst.
In his campaign, (oops, I meant inauguration) speech, Trump claimed that
lots of American wealth is going overseas. Wrong! It's going to evil
bastards like Trump and the other one percenters.
Hey Trump, you now have a tiger by the tail. Can you handle it? With your
thin skin, I doubt it.
Bob Hachey
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of joe harcz Comcast
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2017 9:26 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] drain the swamp
Company that Price invested in faced criminal penalty Eric Tucker,
Associated Press Washington ' A medical device company in which Rep. Tom
Price purchased
stock last year has faced years of legal problems and agreed in December to
a $17 million Justice Department criminal penalty in a foreign bribery case.
Democrats this week challenged the Georgia Republican, who is
President-elect Donald Trump's pick for health secretary, on his investments
and potential
conflict of interest. Among the companies at the center of the controversy
is Zimmer Biomet, a major manufacturer of orthopedic and dental implant
devices.
The Indiana-based company agreed to pay $17.4 million to resolve allegations
that it had schemed to bribe Mexican government officials through a
third-party
distributor in Brazil. Federal prosecutors said the misconduct occurred even
though the company in 2012 had reached a deferred prosecution agreement with
the Justice Department arising from separate foreign bribery allegations.
The payments were intended to allow a Mexican subsidiary of the company to
import
contraband dental implants into Mexico, prosecutors said. As part of an
agreement with the Justice Department, the company was charged with failing
to
implement accounting controls and agreed to have a monitor for three years.
Trump transition spokesman Phillip Blando said Thursday that 'any effort to
link Dr. Price's investment portfolio to a company's legal troubles is
nonsensical, absurd, and insulting. Price's acquisition of Zimmer Biomet
stock,
which became a contentious issue in a Senate confirmation hearing this week,
came around the same time Price introduced legislation to suspend Medicare
rules seen as problematic for such companies. Blando said Price had been
working on the legislation for months, that the stock purchase was made as
part
of a broader rebalancing of his portfolio and that the purchase was made by
his stockbroker, though Price at his hearing did say that he had directed
his
broker to purchase shares in another company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. At
his hearing, Price sparred with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts
Democrat,
over his involvement in the Zimmer Biomet purchase. Price at one point noted
that the stocks were brought by a broker and that he was not making the
decisions,
but he acknowledged that the transactions were made on his behalf. 'Let's
just be clear: This is not just a stockbroker, someone you pay to handle the
paperwork,' Warren said. 'This is someone who buys stock at your direction,
this is someone who buys and sells the stock you want them to buy and sell?
'Not true. That's not true, Senator,' Price said. 'Because you decide not to
tell them ' wink, wink, nod, nod ' and we're all just supposed to believe
that,' Warren said. Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.
