Government documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control, even creating five new investment partnerships during that time.
Romney has said he left Bain in 1999 to lead the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, ending his role in the company. But public Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed later by Bain Capital state he remained the firm’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president.”
Also, a Massachusetts financial disclosure form Romney filed in 2003 states that he still owned 100 percent of Bain Capital in 2002. And Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.
Look at the facts, Allan. How do the elections and SEC filings reconcile with Romney’s public statements?
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Brian: You ask a good question, and I don’t want to fire from the hip on it. I want to look into this and I’ll answer that question.
I’ll leave you with this, however. A good friend of mine is a practicing attorney. During his earlier years of practice, he was a partner and general counsel in an engineering firm (his fledgling practice hadn’t taken off yet, so he needed another source of income.) When his practice took off, he relinquished his role at the engineering firm, but still drew a salary and provided guidance to the new general counsel. It isn’t an uncommon practice and I see it all the time with passive owners or semi-retired owners or people who maintain a significant ownership percentage but are not present for the day-to-day operations.
