|
tazzygirl -> RE: Judge Who Overturned Obama's Ban on Drilling in the Gulf Has Ties to Offshore Drilling Companies (6/24/2010 6:32:58 AM)
|
Wed Jun 23, 2:53 pm ET
Yesterday we reported that 2008 financial disclosures showed that U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who issued an injunction yesterday barring enforcement of President Obama's proposed moratorium on deepwater drilling, owned stock in a variety of oil drilling companies that could have been affected by the ban. A review of federal court records by Yahoo! News shows that Feldman continued to hold at least some of those stocks as recently as May of 2010.
Feldman's 2008 financial disclosure—the most recent one released—shows that Feldman owned oil stocks including Transocean, Parker Drilling, Hercules Offshore, and Halliburton. It's unclear, however, how many of these stocks Feldman continues to own. Judge Feldman's 2009 disclosure was filed "within the last couple of days," according to the U.S. Judicial Conference's Committee on Financial Disclosure, but hasn't been processed for release yet. Though Yahoo! News, Mother Jones, and the Associated Press have all reported that past ownership, Judge Feldman's office has declined to comment.
Feldman's own disclosures in cases he presided over involving the oil industry, though, confirm that he continued to own at least some of that stock as recently at May 2010. They also indicate that he may have sold some of it.
In May 2010, Feldman disclosed ownership of stock in Ocean Energy Inc. Feldman's 2008 disclosure included an investment in a company called Ocean Energy Notes totaling between $15,000 and $50,000. In the case of this particularly disclosure, Feldman believed that Ocean Energy may have been owned by Transocean, one of parties in two different cases he was hearing, and requested that the lawyers involved look into the possible conflict. They advised him that Ocean Energy was not a subsidiary of Transocean.
That Feldman did not also disclose an ownership in Transocean itself while being careful to investigate that possible link would seem to indicate that he had by that point sold the $1,000-to-$15,000 worth of stock he disclosed in 2008. Strangely, though, Feldman did not inquire about the possible Ocean Energy/Transocean link when presiding over another Transocean case just a few months earlier in November 2009.
Feldman also presided over two cases involving Hercules Offshore, a contract drilling firm that, according to his 2008 disclosure, he held between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock in. (The disclosure forms only group investments in broad ranges of their worth, not by any fixed value). He did not disclose an investment in Hercules in either case, both of which were filed in late 2009. Whether he failed to disclose a conflict or had already sold his stock in Hercules Offshore is unknown.
Calls to attorneys in the cases involving Transocean and Hercules were not immediately returned. Feldman's office has declined to respond to inquiries about Judge Feldman's stock holdings and disclosures. A woman answering the phone in Feldman's office simply said, "he is referring people to the 2009 disclosure, which you can get from Washington." When we noted that the disclosures from that year are still awaiting release—and that under the U.S. Judiciary Committee's rules, Feldman must be notified of any requests for its release—she assured Yahoo! News that she would get that message to him.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20100623/ts_ynews/ynews_ts2795_1
I see a definite problem with this Judge.
|
|
|
|
