Obama denies knowing he owned contributors' stocks
By Christi Parsons and Jill Zuckman
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON — Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday he was unaware until this week that he once held stock in two companies owned by political contributors, but that he never took any actions in the Senate or elsewhere to further their business interests before ending his brief foray into high-risk investing.
Under the terms of a trust he was in the process of setting up in February 2005, Obama said, his broker made the decision to invest as much as $100,000 in shares in the companies, both of which had business interests before the federal government around that time.
"At no point did I know what stocks were held," Obama, D-Ill., said. "And at no point did I direct how those stocks were invested."
Obama said the decisions to invest in those two companies were made by the broker without his knowledge, as part of a "quasi blind trust" arrangement he said he had hoped would fend off questions about conflict of interest. The trust documents were actually signed three months after the securities were purchased, but Obama was operating under the terms of the agreement and knew no details about the investments.
"The thing didn't work the way I wanted it to," said Obama, who added that he terminated the investments at a loss of $13,000 in the fall of 2005.
As much as $15,000 of Obama's investment was for shares in AVI BioPharma, which was working on a drug to treat avian flu. Obama waged a high-profile effort for federal funding to fight avian flu, though aides pointed out that it was for early-warning systems in Asia and not for drug development.
Obama also had between $50,000 and $100,000 in shares of SkyTerra Communications, which had recently sought permission from the Federal Communications Commission for a nationwide wireless network.
Both firms said they were not aware of Obama's investments.
The questions arise as Obama enters the second month of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president, an office he seeks as a freshman senator critical of the ways of Washington and an advocate for ethical reform in Congress. The news of his UBS investment account was reported this week by www.thestreet.com and by The New York Times, which is how aides say Obama learned of the two investments.
