Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman struck down the Obama administration's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling. A review of Judge Feldman's 2009 Financial Disclosure Report (pdf) shows that Feldman is significantly invested in BP, which is on the hook for the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The latest information that we have available shows that Judge Feldman holds investments in several funds run by Blackrock, which holds a billion shares of BP. Blackrock is BP's largest single shareholder. Judge Feldman discloses a financial interest in Blackrock's Floating Rate Income Strategies Fund, the Limited Duration Income Trust and the Enhanced Dividend Achievers Trust. He lists each of these Blackrock investments as having a value of up to $15,000.
At least some of the value is in BP stock. The latest SEC filing for Blackrock Enhanced Dividend Achievers Trust, for example, shows it had money in BP.
Feldman's energy holdings include some 17 companies in the industry. His disclosure form for 2008 showed he owned and sold stock in Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig. Within the last year, he also held stock in a company called Noble Corporation. Noble is currently operating two drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico that are sitting idle because of this drilling ban. For one of those rigs, the ban costs Noble roughly $459,000 per day. Feldman reports selling those shares last year.
Then there's Exxon-Mobil, which also has a Gulf rig idled by the moratorium. Judge Feldman owned Exxon stock on Tuesday, making a special note of it on his financial disclosure reportL "The Exxon stock ... was sold at the opening of the stock market on June 22, 2010, prior to the opening of a Court hearing on the Oil Spill Moratorium case." That was the day he made his ruling to overturn this moratorium.
When Feldman began hearings on the case -- and right up until the day of the ruling -- he remained an Exxon shareholder, ruling on a case that would affect the financial future of a company he held stock in.
Judge Feldman's office told us today that the judge says didn't learn he was an Exxon shareholder until Monday night. He instructed his stockbroker to sell his shares the next day.
The district court in Louisiana on which Judge Feldman sits reportedly has systems in place to catch conflicts of interest like this. Apparently those systems work about as well as a blowout preventer on a 5000-foot-deep well.
Leave a Comment:
Just wanted to say that it was GREAT reporting on Judge Feldman's petroleum holdings, which would seem to disqualify him from ruling on the Obama administration's proposed moratorium of future exploratory offshore drilling. Hopefully, the administration's lawyers (who should've picked this up themselves) will be able to run with this and have the case heard under a different judge.....like a blind one......like a truely impartial one.
Velly, velly intelesting.......Judge Feldman pooped in his nest and fell back into it.
No kiddin', Chuck. That right there was some real super-duper investigative reporting. Feldman had no business ruling on this. It's a huge, blatant conflict of interest that's hard for him to deny he didn't know because he obviously had a great deal invested. Even if he didn't know about Exxon there's still the gazillion other things. Great job TRMS!
there's more than one way to skin a cat. MMS should immediately announce all 33 OCS rigs will be subject to comprehensive on-site safety reviews & record audits. ditto the contractors & service ships. make it excruciatingly tedious, exacting, & on-going.
I love the way this story panned out. Jindal is crying that he doesn't have enough resources to clean up the current spill while one of his judges wants more.
That's puts stupidity in the 4th dimension
I guess the 5th dimension is the fact that Jindal does too. He gripes about the lack of resources to clean this mess up but is also mad because drilling has been temporarily halted in the region. You'd think he'd appreciate a temporary ban, at least until they got a handle on this one, if they ever do. It's like watching a guy intentionally smash his own hand with a hammer, complain that it hurts, and then doing it again.
According to TRMS, Jindal has not even deployed the all of the National Guard available to him to help with the clean-up. Why gripe until he has done all that he can?
Did anybody click on the link in Rachel's article to see whether the funds that the judge owns actually do include BP stock, as reported? I did - guess what - the BlackRock funds that the judge owns do not hold BP stocks.
How many judges in the region do NOT have ties to the industry?
Good question Jim. And, I think you have to ask how many people in government generally have some type of investments in oil, or received money from the oil industry for their campaigns. Oil stock is not an uncommon stock to hold. It takes a lot of money to run a political campaign...
But one would wonder why, if he did not realize it was a good reason to recuse himself, he would not at least realize how really bad he would look selling that stock the morning he released his ruling on this case?
I posted this elsewhere.
We are in a sad state because too many politicians are more concerned about sitting on their wallets than standing up for principals.
Approx 50-60% own energy stocks. 40% of judges would then NOT have ties to the industry.
You've GOT to be kidding! You almost cannot have funds in diversified investments that don't have oil stocks in them? Maybe we should disqualify him for putting gas in his car. Rachel continues to be (and always will be) the biggest joke in cable "news." Nice try, Rach. Hey, how 'bout jumping on the biggest benefactor of BP political contributions -- our Dear Leader Chairman Obama...
So lets put this into perspective. You're right. Obama received a lot of money from BP. That obviously means that he would favor them because they gave him so much money. He raised $754mil (opensecrets.gov). He received $2,782,904 from the Energy & Natural Resources sector (McCain received $4,090,435). So about half of a percent of his funding came from that entire sector. Yeah, I would be beholden to someone who gave me $.50 out of $100 too. If you're going to use numbers, lets put them into some perspective. Anyone can through numbers around, but it takes some thought to put them to use.
To a second point, who has taken the oil companies on to get them to pay a fair share? Apparently being a big benefactor lets you get another $20bil out of them with minimal strings attached? Where were the repubs on that one? Oh yeah, they're upset because businesses are having to face the consequences of their choices, and they feel that they businesses should be protected? Oddly enough, being faced with your own consequences is the result of free markets at work.
Sorry about the typos. Its late and I really need to take my contacts out.
Still sounds corrupt
Here are the facts and no baloney from Media Matters
In fact, Obama received no BP PAC money for 2008 campaign
Obama received no PAC money from BP during his presidential campaign. Contrary to the Times' claim that Obama "took in $77,000" from BP "executives and its political action committee," during "the 2008 election cycle," Obama received $71,051 in BP-linked contributions during his presidential campaign, and $6,000 in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All of the BP-linked money Obama received for his 2008 campaign came from BP employees, not from BP's PAC or from the company itself. A spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics confirmed that "the $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees." The CRP spokesman also stated that "Obama did not accept contributions from political action committees, so none of this money is from BP's PAC."
Donations from BP or its employees represent 0.01 percent of Obama's total fundraising. As Media Matters senior fellow Jamison Foser has noted, Obama has raised more than $799 million for his campaigns. The $77,051 he has received from BP's PAC and employees accounts for less than 0.01 percent of Obama's total campaign contributions.
You're not thinking this one through. If Obama received funds from BP then made decisions that benefited them, then, yes, it's of interest. But, he's been fighting against BP on this one. So, he deserves way more credit. He received BP linked contributions and still makes decisions against them and expects them to fix their mistake and not put it on the taxpayers. Too bad some of our other politicians don't feel the same way.
This judge should have recused himself from this issue. He totally knew he was invested in BP and probably shouldn't be sitting on this.
yeah, I even heard he invented evil. Geeze, I'm sick of the guy getting vilified for absolutely everything. Get a real thought in your head stupid ditto head, glen beckian fool.
So what percentage of the judge's total holdings are in the oil industry? Yeah, thought so.
Oh, yeah! "Let me find out who I am invested with here, then tell my broker to get rid of my interests BEFORE I rule on this issue, so it doesn't look like I have conflicts here!"
Even Nixon wasn't THIS corrupt!
ALSO: When the hell are you folks all going to realize that we have foxes watching over the hen house? In the oil industry, the communications industry, (especially) the food industry...
When are we all going to wake up?
Can't wake people up, didn't you hear they are putting fluoride in the water to keep us controlled and meek?
Woo Hoo, the Meek shall inherit the earth, drink up folks :)
Why doesn't this surprise me??! It just doesn't surprise me at all. Unbelievably amazing.
Can we say "FASCISM" anyone?
It seems that "our" government has been taken over by Corporations at every level possible. Thirty years of "Reaganomics" has all but decimated our once strong nation that FDR worked hard to build.
We don't need another ConservaDem. We need a strong Progressive Government to undo the damage done by the Fascist Conservative Agenda.
Need to take this case north of the oil soaked judiciary.
politicians have been corrupt since the dawn of time ...lol
if they can ever plug that well before killing off everything,ive read 10 years ago in in US news and world report that they discovered an oilfield in gulf to rival Saudi's field
The reporter has simply not done her homework or is being disingenuous. The fact the the judge owns funds that are managed by Blackrock, which invests customer assets (not its own) in BP has nothing to do with the price of ice cream, people. Blackrock's fund managers make their own decisions on how to invest the money under their management. Heck, everyone reading this blog might have money invested in BP if they have a 401k or a pension fund. Blackrock 5.9% stake in BP is other peoples' money. And although 5.9% of BP might seem to be a big investment to you, it is probably a miniscule percentage of the total assets undermanagement by Blackrock. The funds the judge holds, which are managed by Blackrock, probably hold 100's of different stocks. The other stocks the judge held (past tense) have no meaning here since he "held them in the past." This reporter is trying to make an issue where the is none by telling half truths. Shame on her. Be smart and look through her B/S.
yeah, I even heard he invented evil. Geeze, I'm sick of the guy getting vilified for absolutely everything. Get a real thought in your head stupid ditto head, glen beckian fool.
Everything written here is about what the judge held in the past. Not now or during the hearing. What is the problem with this? Someone please tell me what I am missing.
He held stock during the hearing and sold them the morning of the decision. Says he was not aware he held stock related to the case and it is possible that he has mant stocks but such should have been checked before he sat down to read the brief.
17 comments ,only 2 that merrit mention,those from 1 person.So I must ask are you others just not aware of the relative facts reguarding this,you know like the important ones ie: Salazar changing the report after its submission by the engineers who wrote it. (the-professionals) because it did not support the administrations desires.Thats worth reporting its a fact just as Obama's recent references to it , to reach his goals Wow this is what should concern everyone,from enviromentalists to industrialist. Note a informed person would know that could be one person. The implications of all this is frieghtening stuff do you just not know or are you so blind you dont see. Does csnbc not present relative info or just what is in support of the current administration. If its anything like this crap from Racheal M. that I just veiwed, given that the real subject is so important to this nation It appears they chose to limit information they provide.Wake up and stop- being manipulated,I dont wish to affend you but please being ignorant or brainwashed does not help the future citizens of what was once a proud natiion.Also dont judge me, I care very much about this world its people and its future.I also care about America very very much but its the must endangered thing I know of specifically because of the admin attemps to ( fundimentally transform it ).Yes isnt it amazing.
The alteration was discussed by Rach, Chris and Ed on MSNBC, I think I heard someone on CNN also touch on it and what was altered and why though I cannot recall right now but I will try to retrace the story and post the data.
All administrations alter paperwork to prove ther point, we need notgo back far for the WMD disaster and the lies postulated there among others, Clinton and his wish for whitegate to disappear and Bush senior had even more, it is nothing new and no matter what we do it will never stop. Spin merchants make their living from looking at data amd making it fit their view, Fox are notorious for it but they are not the only ones by far and the US is not the only country where it happens.
I agree it needs to stop and it is a disservice to the public but changing 5 lines in a report to ensure safety is enforced is nothing compared to changing intelligence data and causing thousands of troops to die and be disabled for life.
I am an addict, like you. OIL is the new crack? http://ow.ly/23wvm
Bob
Rachel looks just like a sad lab puppy when talking about the oil spill:
http://www.dailypuppy.com/puppies/wyatt-the-labrador-retriever_2010-06-23
Another Daily Puppy fan! That pup has got to be the most serious-faced lab in the history of ever.
cuteoverload.com, dailypuppy.com, and dailykitten.com keep me sane during these insane times. We visit every night before sleep and every morning we watch the previous night's rachel online.
very serious little pup there
This doesn't also have the elements of insider trading? The judge knowing what his ruling was going to be so he sold the stocks before giving a huge gift to the industry? He certainly didn't sell off all his energy stocks.
My, what a "coincidence" that he just "happened" to sell his Exxon shares the day before the hearing.
Whoopsie ... someone should have practiced his judicial ethics and recused himself ...
The "drill baby drill" muckers are everywhere. Could this judge be a "mucker"?
Two to tango! Life is not quite as simplistic as I seem to indicate here BUT, the interminable whirling dervish of US news with all its who spilled what, who owns which, finger pointing, glib, charming, manipulating, lying, conning, promiscuous, insensitive, unemotional evil is not a middle east whirling dervish at all. ((Did I miss any psychopath attributes there?)) It is an untangled Tango spectacle featuring stock holding Americans addicted to the Ignorance paradigm and led by masterful, brilliant, dancer Psychopathic Masters of the Universe. Stockholder-OIL STOCK; psychopaths-OIL COMPANIES: GOALS: Afghanistan-PIPELINE, Iraq-OIL WELLS, Iran-PIPELINE COMPETITOR, ad infinitum. Oh, you did not know we are only in Afghanistan for the pipeline? DUHHHHHHHHHH!
We're not "Only in Afghanistan for the pipeline" you dunce. There are also 3 trillion dollars worth of untapped minerals there too! Oil is so 1940's.
I thought the "yellow flag" piece was a fitting way to describe the moratorium. Only one small problem... in a race, the yellow (caution) flag is only flown until the hazard is removed from the track. There is no arbitrary amount of laps given. When it's safe to race again, they give the green. I think, as do some others, that 6 months, one month or ANY specific time frame given on a moratorium is abitrary. There should be a 100% saftey stand-down and as each rig gets the green light, then they may resume business as usual. Just my opinion.
I rather like your approach, v-o-r. I do not believe that this alternative has been spoken of before.
Very good and detailed analysis. Actually what in sense you are saying in lay-mans terms is that when he made the decision on Monday, he was way out of bounds, but by Tuesday he had tip toed his way back into bounds. For all football fans this is an obvious foul, and therefore he should be penalized 10yrs without judgeship and new judge should make a call. First of all this judge Martin Feldman is no longer called that by this dude. I now refer to the judge as Egor. Egor was a character in a great movie called the "Bride of Frankenstein" The character was weak but the actor who marvelously played Igor is named Marty Feldman. Igor is the judge and the oil industry is Frankenstein. and Rachel you are not the bride. You are the Ayla fighting against this injustice against the sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDf-KkMCKQ
I want to know who will be held responsible for these Dolphins and Whale I photographed dying in the oil?
I hope every person who has invested in BP loses all!
CREEKKEEPER
Day late and many dollars short reporting this story. Its already old news.
Citations?
Earlier I missnamed a movie. The movie I meant to mention is "Young Frankenstein" and not Bride of Frankenstein. The character is Igor not Egor.