There seems to be some confusion over whether Everquest Financial has $100 million in revenue or profit.
Here is the quote from the official Press Release I received from the Gilmore campaign:
"5. As a result of sound management, Everquest is thriving and has earned $100 million in revenue for its shareholders."
Taking a look at the Gilmore website, it looks like the campaign has changed the language:
"5. As a result of sound management, Everquest is thriving and has earned a $100 million profit for its shareholders."
There is a big difference between "revenue" and "profit". It looks like the Gilmore campaign doesn't know the difference. They should.
So, lets say Everquest "earned" a $100 million in profit. This leads to several questions. Where is the evidence to support this figure? Surely the campaign didn't just make it up. What was the time frame in which this money was made? What is the current financial position of the company? In the face of Bear Sterns' collapse and the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, is Everquest still making money?
In the end, it still comes down to the fact that this deal stinks. Bear Sterns wanted to unload bad investments to those that would buy shares of Everquest in the IPO. Fortunately, the IPO was called off.
Gilmore should have come clean in the beginning and washed his hands of this. Instead, he chose to defend Everquest. I hope Jim is ready to keep defending himself....Mark Warner is going to have a field day.
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7 comments:
Thanks Zak,
I didn't get the original email but it turns out I was correct. I wonder if "John" will come on and apologize to me. Probably not since he is a likely Gilmore staffer.
What concerns me now is with the corrected press release, is the number even real. $100 million seems like an oddly even round number to be the profit on a company composed of $700 million of CDO's. Obviously it can't be verified--at least until some of the lawsuits start bringing out details of the operation of EF.
It reminds me of when Gilmore "promised" that his Car Tax plan would only be a $600 state spending program when it actually got to $1.9 billion when it was capped at 70% implementation. Seems that accuracy isn't that important to him.
Mr. Moore,
First:
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/opinion.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-03-24-0045.html
Second:
Do you think Bob Lewis came across this garbage himself? Do you think Bob Lewis found an obscure economist from California on his own? Get real. This entire fiasco stinks to high Heaven of Mark Warner.
What we are witnessing here, which you are now akin to is a small group of people trying to turn something completely irrelevant into a big news story in the effort to destroy a private company.
You're right, the campaign simply didn't make up the figures of over $100 million. But it is also not the obligation for Governor Gilmore to divulge the exact financial information of a PRIVATE COMPANY to you or any other person who is not a shareholder. Now, if you were a shareholder, you would be well within your right to demand this information.
That being said: do you, or Former Senator Bell have ANY evidence to back up any claim you have made of this deal "stinking"? I see a lot of normative arguments here, taken from an Associated Press piece that is being roundly rejected throughout the state.
John,
My information comes from a variety of sources not the AP story. Just googling EF yields a large number of reports all outside Virginia with no bais. The most telling is the 75 page lawsuit filed by Barclays against Bear Stearns. If just 10% of the allegations prove to be true EF has a lot of problems.
This deal doesn't pass the smell test. I don't have the interest or time to prove something to someone that I don't know. Who are you John and why would I need to waste time proving something to you. You obviously knew of the revenue to profit switch so you must be a campaign insider.
C'mon John, use your head. If Warner et al really were the source of this, why drop it now? Why not wait until Gilmore is nominated?
The fact is, this was easy to find, Lewis just happened to find it - and even he seemed to miss the main point.
Up in New York, on Wall Street, Everquest is infamous ("the garbage truck for Bear Stearns" as it is known).
Oh my god! A campaign revised a press release?! Senator Bell, this is bigger than Whitewater and Watergate combined! You've unraveled the biggest political conspiracy of the 21st century. Move over, Carl Berstein, here comes Brandon Bell!
You, sir, are a true American hero and a genuine patriot in the mold of Thomas Jefferson. Bravo.
"I don't have the interest or time to prove something to someone that I don't know. "
Well that's refreshing to know. I wish I had the luxury of not defending my points.
Thanks, MR I've already included it on my resume.
The real question MR is did the campaign revise a press release or just make something up to put a little perfume on the pig.
John I don't know about you but I have a job and a life. But if you want details go over to Right Wing Liberal, DJ has a great breakdown with the specifics I didn't have time to produce for you. Everything he has up jives with what I uncovered. Also read the 75 page Baclays lawsuit against Bear Stearns. It is very incitefull.
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