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CREW Files Additional Ethics Complaint Against Sen. Frist

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an additional complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senator William Frist (R-TN) alleging that Senator Frist was well aware that the he held HCA stock at a time when he denied any knowledge of such holdings. The complaint points to recent press reports and letters from trustees to Senator Frist as evidence that the Senator was aware of his holdings.

The original complaint CREW filed on September 26, 2005, alleged that the Senator violated Senate ethics rules by engaging in apparent insider trading and then attempting to cover it up.

This past June, Sen. Frist sold all of his, his wife’s and his children’s stock in, HCA, shortly before the value of the stock fell sharply. Notably, Sen. Frist’s brother sits on HCA’s board of directors and other members of the board also sold HCA stock before its value fell. Although Sen. Frist has owned HCA stock prior to his initial election to the Senate in 1994, Sen. Frist now claims that he sold the stock because of a conflict of interest.

Today’s complaint refers the ethics committee to information that has come to light since CREW filed its initial complaint, namely that -- despite his statements that he did know whether he held HCA stock -- Senator Frist had repeatedly received information from his trustees clearly stating that he and his family held HCA stock

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s Executive Director, asked “How many times can Senator Frist repeat the same lie? It is obvious that he knew he held HCA stock. The question is, why does Senator Frist persist in claiming to have been unaware of his stock holdings? What is he trying to hide? It is time for Senator Frist to come clean with the American people.”

The complaint asks the Ethics Committee to review Sen. Frist’s conduct under the Senate rule allowing the Committee to investigate whenever a senator has engaged in “improper conduct reflecting on the Senate.” The committee also has the option of criticizing Sen. Frist’s conduct if it does not find that the Senator’s actions rise to the level of improper conduct.