Cashing in stock options before the market crashed, presidential brother Neil Bush made at least $171,370 in a single day by buying and selling shares in a small U.S. high-tech firm where he had previously been a consultant, according to tax returns that give a glimpse into his business dealings.
The July 19, 1999 purchase and quick sale of stock from Kopin Corp. of Taunton, Mass., came on a day that the company received good news about a new Asian client that sent its stock value soaring.
"My timing on this transaction was very fortunate," Bush told The Associated Press.
Bush's profit was a slice of at least $798,218 that the president's younger brother reported on his tax returns from three transactions involving Kopin's stock.
AP obtained his tax returns for the years 1997 through 2001 from a source familiar with his finances.
Those returns, as well as records that have come to light in Bush's divorce case, show that since his controversial tenure with the failed Colorado savings and loan Silverado more than a decade ago, he has become a globe-trotting businessman with a variety of consulting deals.
For instance, a Chinese firm, Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. of Shanghai, offered to pay Bush $2 million in stock for his consulting services, but Bush told AP he has "not received one penny of compensation" because he never did the consulting.
Bush's tax returns also show $357,000 in income from his company, Ignite!, which is developing interactive, multimedia lessons for students.
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Bush's big paydays stem from his role in 1995 as the intermediary who helped broker a deal that got an Asian company, Telecom Holdings, to invest $27 million in Kopin.
"Neil helped put together an approximately $27 million dollar deal and was awarded stock options for his efforts. Stock options can range from anywhere to being utterly worthless to very valuable," Bush lawyer John Spalding said. "A realtor in a similar deal would have made three times as much money and it would have been paid at closing. Neil eventually made around $500,000 in compensation for his work that was not guaranteed."
After the 1995 deal, Kopin snapped Bush up as a consultant for two years "to see what other doors he could open up for us" in Asia, according to Kopin chief financial officer Richard Sneider.
"Neil Bush was a matchmaker and he was given stock options in Kopin as part of his compensation," Sneider explained. "Our executives were pleased with his hard work on the Asian investment."
Funny how Martha Stewart, whose insider stock deal netted her $228,000, may go to jail while Neilsie, who netted more than three times as much from his insider status, gets Asian prostitutes and a new fiancee, Maria Andrews.
Note to Sharon Bush: It's time to start talking to publishers again. Your story is worth far more than a house and some child support. Think of yourself and the kids Neil abandoned. You could make a lot more cash with a tell-all book on the innermost workings of the Bush dynasty than Barbara and H.W. are willing to give you. Compare Michael Moore's, Al Franken's and Hillary Clinton's hardback sales to Lynne Cheney's or David Frum's and you'll see what I mean.
Here's a recent and extensive WaPo overview of Neilsie's checkered past entitled "The Relatively Charmed Life Of Neil Bush." "He has real pluck about him," says Thomas "Lud" Ashley, an ex-congressman and bank lobbyist, and family friend.
