Judicial Watch: Deputy Attorney General Thompson
Sued Personally for Alleged Stock Fraud Involving Abuse of Official Position Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson Sued Personally for Alleged Stock
Fraud Involving Abuse Of Official Position
-- Head of Justice Department Corporate Crime Task Force Will be Held
Accountable Under the Rule of Law
What: Press Conference
Date: August 14
Time: 9 a.m. (Central Time)
Location: Doubletree Hotel
Tucson Room (Main Ballroom)
Campbell Centre
8250 North Central Expressway
Dallas, Texas 75206
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes
government corruption and abuse, announced today that it is filing a
shareholders suit in federal court in San Francisco, Calif., against Deputy
Attorney General and Corporate Crime Task Force head Larry D. Thompson and other
directors and officers of Providian Financial Corporation, as well as Providian
itself, for alleged securities fraud involving misleading accounting practices
and insider trading. Incredibly, Deputy AG Thompson was recently appointed by
Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Bush-Cheney administration to head the
Corporate Crime Task Force, which was recently created to combat the very kind
of fraud and corruption alleged in this new lawsuit.
Documents filed by Providian with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
state that Thompson was the Chairman of the Providian Audit and Compliance
Committee for several years prior to his resignation to become Deputy Attorney
General in mid-2001. The Complaint alleges that Thompson and other director and
officer defendants knew that Providian's financial condition was deteriorating
and adopted a fraudulent scheme to delay recognition of losses from the second
quarter 2001 into the third quarter 2001, thereby artificially enhancing and
inflating Providian's stock prices and allowing the individual defendants to
exercise their stock options and sell their stock to unsuspecting buyers before
Providian's true financial condition could be discovered. "Whether it is the Enron, Arthur Andersen, Global Crossing, Halliburton,
Harken, or now the Providian scandal, there is a dangerous intersection between
politicians of all stripes, Democrat and Republican, attempting to feed at the
trough of business greed. The Providian scandal is especially egregious because
it highlights this incestuous relationship in perhaps its clearest form - a
director who allegedly participated in and profited personally from alleged
securities fraud is appointed to a key government position where he is alleged,
on information and belief, to have abused his official office to block
appropriate government enforcement action," stated Judicial Watch Chairman
and General Counsel Larry Klayman.
Copyright 2002 U.S. Newswire, Inc.
U.S. Newswire...08/14/2002
News Advisory:
The Complaint further alleges that Thompson abused his
official position to block any action by the Justice Department into the alleged
fraudulent and illegal activities of Providian and the current and former
insiders, including Thompson himself.
http://www.usnewswire.com
CONTACT: Judicial Watch Press Department, 202-646-5172