Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In May 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that the FBI and the
SEC were investigating Bob Corker and CBL & Associates, a REIT
based in Corkers hometown of Chattanooga owned by Corkers
former employers turned major donors. According to the report,
federal officials were examining CBLs billing practices and Corkers
dozens of lucrative stock trades over a period of several years,
collectively worth tens of millions of dollars. While they have not
commented publicly on the case, investigators appear to be looking
into whether Corkers trades may have been based on inside
information.
Some of the transactions in question involved CBL, but they were not
the only firm with long ties to Corker where he appears to have
hidden the degree of his involvement. Corker also invested in two
Chattanooga hedge funds called Pointer Management and TSWII,
which like CBL were founded by longtime donors and friends of
Corker. As with CBL, there is concernand at least some
circumstantial evidencethat privileged information that Corker
obtains as a Senator could be used to influence the funds investment
positions.
noted that Corker and Warner sought to radically reshape the housing
finance market in a landmark bill they proposed in 2013. The CorkerWarner bill did not pass, but it has become a blueprint for subsequent
proposals to eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
While in the Senate, Corker has pursued a series of agenda items that
have advanced Lukens business interests. He sent letters to the FCC
urging regulatory changes that would protect the profits of Lukens
scores of low-power TV stations and broadcast networks. Corker cosponsored multiple bills that would benefit Lukens telecom
businesses. Corker also spent years as mayor and senator
encouraging Volkswagen to build a massive plant in Chattanooga,
which inflated the value of several of Lukens nearby properties.
This was not the only favorable treatment Corker has received from
Wells Fargo, which he also oversees as a member of the Senate
Banking Committee. Days after Corker sank between $2 and $10
million in a proposed Mobile, Alabama shopping center, the bank
announced it would finance the project. Wells Fargo has long been the
primary financier of CBL, and the firms owners credited the banks for
allowing them to weather the financial crisis, which also allowed
Corker to retain value in his multi-million-dollar investments. Corker
invests hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in his
campaign war chest with a fund owned by a former Wells executive
named Aon Miller.
Corkers hold time was extremely short in every case. He sold the
stocks after an average of slightly more than three months, and held
onto none for even five months. The trades were also extraordinarily
profitablenearly 80% were winners. Corker travelled to many of the
countries where these companies are located, and as chair of Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, he often received detailed breakdowns
of their economic issues, include material non-public information that
would be high interest for investors.
This willingness to use public office for his own personal benefit has
been a theme of Corkers career dating back to his first elected
position, as mayor of Chattanooga from 2001 to 2006. Critics
complained that he changed city zoning and environmental rules to
boost the value of multiple properties he owed. Corker also appears to
have directed city business to his friends; for instance, under his
watch Pointer Management began to manage investments for city
pension funds.