SEC filings, press releases, and other contemporaneous documents released between 1997 and 1999 indicate that Mitt Romney may have parlayed a $23m investment and seat on the board of troubled software firm The Learning Company (TLC) into an ownership stake in Mattel, Inc. worth as much as $100,000,000 as of June, 1999.
On September 25 of that year, Romney, in his role as CEO of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee, stood before the world to announce that the SLOC had signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Mattel for the production of stuffed-animal representations of the Olympic mascots.
Romney made no mention of his personal ownership interest in Mattel. Less than two weeks later, Mattel made a bombshell announcement.
On October 4 Mattel disclosed that The Learning Company had incurred millions in product returns and bad debt write-offs and that the TLC division of Mattel would incur a $50-$100 million loss rather than the large profit that had been forecast previously.
Mattel, whose stock had traded as high as $27.23 when the TLC merger was completed, at $24.14 on June 25 (the date upon which Romney's ownership is documented and worth estimated), closed at $11.69 on October 4.
CNBC would later label the Mattel/TLC merger as 'one of the five worst of all time.'
The market had discovered, and Mattel had admitted, that The Learning Company was essentially a worthless shell.
Mitt Romney, by virtue of his control of a seat on the TLC board, would have most certainly known this to be true.
Thus, and by virtue of his statement of 25 September, 1999, Mitt Romney exposes himself to the potential for very serious allegations of fraud, namely:
- That he used his position as CEO of the SLOC to influence the choice of Olympic sponsors and licensees to his own personal benefit.
- That he used his position as CEO of the SLOC to make public statements about the health of Mattel which he knew or should have known, to be materially false.
- That he used his position as CEO of the SLOC to influence the investment decisions of shareholders or potential shareholders of Mattel, or to influence the price of Mattel's stock, while failing to disclose his own material interest in Mattel.
- That he failed to disclose to the SLOC, to the USOC, and to the IOC, a clear conflict of interest with respect to his ownership status in Mattel.
I'm missing two key pieces of information, however. The first is a primary citation of the June 22, 1999 Bear Stearns report timestamping Lee, Bain, and Centre's Mattel ownership on that date. That document either does, or does not exist. If it exists, I need it.
The second is harder: Between June 22 1999, through September 25, and into October 4, what happened with Romney/Bain's (estimated) 4.1 million shares of Mattel? Did they sit on them, dump them, what? Is it possible to know? How much does it matter if the June 22 date can be validated?
Either this is some serious stuff, or I've managed to foolishly convince myself that it is. I've been looking at it since I started researching my previous diary: Mattel Toys, troubled firm partly owned by Bain, signs on as Olympics Sponsor, 9/25/1999. At the time, it looked like there could be some evidence of petty graft with respect to the stuffed animals. This could be magnitudes worse.
Right now I need your help. Please read it. Try to follow my argument, try to tear it apart or show me where its holes are. Let me know where you need clarification or are confused.
Thank you.
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