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... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
You expected some sort of stock sell off as a form of protest of a companies practices based on media alligations?
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No, I expected it to fall when they started getting investigasted. Investigated for what, you might ask? Investigated for:
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Tax Evasion
While Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the number of Halliburton subsidiaries registered in tax-friendly locations went from 9 in 1995 to 44 in 1999. And guess what? Halliburton's federal taxes plummeted from $302 million in 1998 to less than zero, an $85 million rebate in 1999. - Source - Tallahassee Democrat, August 6, 2002
Illegal Business Practices - Corporate Corruption
Remember that Cheney was CEO in the LATE 90's. Although, the AP forgot to mention that in this article - ''A jury has awarded $70 million to a Houston man who claimed that Halliburton and another oil company cheated him out of the chance to develop an oil field in Kazakhstan in the late 1990s.'' - Source - Associated Press, October 25, 2003
Illegal Trade
In a letter to Donald Rumsfeld, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) said, "Halliburton Co. subsidiaries and joint ventures had done business in Iran, Iraq and Libya, in spite of U.S. sanctions against those countries." - Source - San Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2003
Illegal Arms Trade - Selling Warheads
"An attorney for the head of a New Mexico anti-terrorism training firm is asking why prosecutors have zealously pursued his client for allegedly stockpiling warheads but ignored the company from they purchased the weapons. The attorney for High Energy Access Tool's president David Hudak, says Halliburton Corporation solicited Hudak to purchase about 2,400 warheads. Bob Gorence says the company offered the warheads as demolition charges and not as the government-owned military items that are illegal to posses." - Source - Associated Press, April 28, 2003
Bribing Officials, Part I
According to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission report filed by Halliburton, one of Halliburton's subsidiaries paid a Nigerian official $2.4 million dollars in return for tax breaks. - Source - The Guardian, May 9,2003
Bribing Officials, Part II
The Halliburton subsidiary of Kellogg, Brown, and Root, and a French engineering firm, are being investigated by the French financial crimes squad for the payment of up to $200,000,000 in under the counter "commissions" (read: kick back, or bribe) for a contract in Nigeria. - Source - The Guardian, in London, Oct. 11, 2003
Illegally Price Gouging the Government, Part I
Under Cheney's watch, Halliburton was fined $2 million for consistently over billing the Pentagon. - Source - Tallahassee Democrat, August 6, 2002
Illegally Price Gouging the Government, Part II?
According to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif), "Halliburton billed the government an average price of $1.59 per gallon (3.7 litres), excluding the company's fee of 2%-7%,"
"He (Waxman) said the average wholesale cost of gasoline during that period in the Middle East was about 71 cents a gallon, a figure an oil industry source told Reuters was accurate. That meant Halliburton was charging more than 90 cents a gallon to transport fuel into Iraq from Kuwait."
"When we checked with independent experts to see if this fee was reasonable, they were stunned,' said Waxman, adding a reasonable transport cost would be 10 to 25 cents per gallon, especially as the US military was providing security. - Source - Reuters, October 16, 2003
Illegally Price Gouging the Government, Part III?
"As of Oct. 19, Halliburton had imported 61.3 million gallons of gasoline from Kuwait into Iraq, and the company was paid $162.5 million for an average price of $2.65 a gallon, Rep. Henry Waxman (D- Calif) and Rep. John Dingell (D) wrote.'' - Source - Yahoo, October 30, 2003
Government Favors for Halliburton, Part I
During Cheney's watch Halliburton received $1.5 billion in government financing and loan guarantees. - Source - Tallahassee Democrat, August 6, 2002
Immunity from Polluting Drinking Water - Government Favors, Part II
As part of the new Energy Bill, there is a provision that, if it becomes law, "the EPA would be helpless even if the technique pumped pollutants into drinking-water wells." The provision, favored by Senate Republicans, has already passed the Republican controlled House. This provision specifically names the process, ‘hydraulic fracturing', that will be immune from regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency. - Source - Denver Post, Sept. 14, 2003
Lying about a Nuclear Threat
There are many examples of this, but the most blatant is when he said that, "Iraq has reconstituted it's Nuclear program", then we found that that claim was based on documents he knew to be forged. These forged documents claimed Iraq attempted to purchase yellow-cake uranium from Nigeria. Cheney ask the CIA to send someone over to Nigeria. The CIA sent Ex- Ambassador Wilson over, and he found that the documents were fake, and reported this back to Cheney's office. This is the same Wilson whose wife was outed by senior Bush officials, after he told his story to the news. She was a covert CIA agent. Revealing her identify as a CIA agent could have risked the lives of many of her contacts. - Source - MSNBC, ABC, CBS, FOX
Conflict of Interest - Lying about Financial Ties
On NBC's "Meet the Press", Sept. 14, 2003, Cheney stated that he has "no financial interest in Halliburton of any kind and haven't had now for over three years." He also said he had "severed all my ties with the company, gotten rid of all my financial interests." - That is a bold-faced lie. In reality, "Cheney received deferred compensation of $147,579 in 2001 and $162,392 in 2002, with payments scheduled to continue for three more years." - Cheney also has "433,333 stock options" valued at more than $10,500,000.00 (433,333 stock options * Today's Stock Price). - Source - MSNBC, Sept. 26, 2003
The No-Bid Contract, Government Favors, Part III
Prior to the war, a Halliburton subsidiary was secretly awarded a two-year, no bid contract worth up to $7,000,000,000. It was originally communicated that the contract was to put out oil well fires and to handle other unspecified duties. As it turns out, those unspecified duties also give Halliburton control of oil wells, and much more. - Source - Chicago Tribune, May 8, 2003
More Lying
The stated reason why Halliburton received the no-bid contract is because the Bush Administration needed to keep it secret for 'National Security' reasons, and because of their unique resources to handle the problems, but - ''Bob Grace is president of GSM Consulting, a small company in Amarillo, Texas, that has fought oil well fires all over the world. Grace worked for the Kuwait government after the first Gulf War and was in charge of firefighting strategy for the huge Bergan Oil Field, which had more than 300 fires." GSM Consulting was not given an opportunity nor a no-bid contract. - Source - CBS, Sept. 21, 2003
Losing an Abestos Lawsuit
In 2002, Halliburton agreed to a $4,000,000,000 cash-and-stock deal to settle 200,000 asbestos lawsuits. - Source - Reuters, Sept. 2, 2003
Government Favors, Part IV
"Senators are considering a measure that would create a $108 billion fund to pay workers exposed to asbestos, a cancer- causing insulation and fireproofing material. A study by lawyers for asbestos victims estimated the measure would save Halliburton and 10 other companies $15 billion, leading to concerns the company is delaying settlement talks in hopes the bill passes." - Source - Pittsburgh Tribune- Review, July 23, 2003
Corporate Corruption - Filing Bankruptcy to avoid taking responsibility for your actions.
If Government favors won't work to avoid paying the asbestos lawsuit, then try filing for BANKRUPTCY. "The oilfield services company said it is now in a position to make a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in November for its subsidiaries -- DII Industries, Kellogg Brown, & Root and others involved in asbestos litigation. Once filed, the bankruptcy plan automatically blocks any further asbestos claims, even if the court's stay has expired." - Source - Reuters, Sept. 29, 2003
Even though they are making billions - ''Halliburton…yesterday reported soaring revenues from its contracts to help rebuild Iraq...The company said sales in the third quarter were 39% higher at $4.1 billion'' - Source - The Guardian, London, October 10, 2003
Paying Halliburton instead of buying food for the Iraqi poor
''Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and and Rep. John Dingell (D) also said last week that the UN oil-for-food program was being used to pay Halliburton, in possible violation of a UN Security Council resolution.'' - Source - AFP - October 27th, 2003 and the US Army Corp of Engineers
Tax Breaks for the Energy Industry (Including Halliburton), Government Favors V
"Congressional negotiators are weighing House and Senate proposals to include dozens of tax breaks for (energy) industries in pending energy legislation, even though they could add as much as $19 billion to the federal budget deficit in the next decade.'' - Source - Washington Post, September 9,2003
Government Favors VI - Blanket Immunity for oil companies doing business in Iraq
If that wasn't enough, on May 22nd, 2003, Bush issued Executive Order 13303, that specifically gives immunity to oil companies in Iraq.
"It also declared a national emergency as the justification for sweeping aside all federal statues, including the Alien Tort Claims Act, and appears to provide immunity against contractual disputes, discrimination suits, violations of labor practices, international treaties, environmental disasters and human rights violations. Even more, it doesn't limit immunity to the production of oil, but also protects individuals, companies and corporations involved in selling and marketing the oil as well." - Source - San Francisco Chronicle, August 8, 2003
Government Favors VII - Free Trade in the Middle East (i.e. No tariffs, taxes)
Now Mr. Bush, we wouldn't want billion dollar companies paying any taxes would we? - "In a similar address in May, Bush highlighted the importance of promoting democracy and called for the establishment of a Middle East free trade zone." - Source - Jerusalem Post, November 7, 2003
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