SEC's probe cost Boehner office $110K

SEC's probe cost Boehner office $110K
By Mike Soraghan
December 13, 2007

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) spent more than $110,000 in legal fees this year to deal with a Securities Exchange Commission investigation of possible insider trading at student lender Sallie Mae.

Four staffers interviewed by SEC investigators were later issued clearance letters indicating no action would be taken against them, but the investigation is ongoing and the link to Boehner could highlight his political ties to the now-scandal-tarred student loan industry.

“The SEC contacted the leader’s office for information and assistance, which we provided in a complete, thorough and timely fashion earlier this year,” Boehner spokesman Brian Kennedy said in response to a request for comment.

The SEC is investigating whether Sallie Mae Chairman Al Lord had inside information about President Bush’s budget proposal, which when it was released in February proposed cuts in subsidies for student loan companies.

Lord sold more than $18.3 million worth of Sallie Mae stock days before the budget rollout. Afterward, the stock price dropped 9 percent.

If he’d sold four days later, after the subsidy cuts were announced, Lord would have made $1.4 million less on the sale.

Sallie Mae officials have said the timing was coincidental, but the SEC launched an investigation.

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