Halliburton Heist Hangs by a Thread: James Addison Baker III Breaks into Flop Sweat

CorpGovActivist

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Wed Nov-15-06 08:35 AM
Original message

Halliburton Heist Hangs by a Thread: James Addison Baker III Breaks into Flop Sweat

Edited on Wed Nov-15-06 09:32 AM by CorpGovActivist

The Halliburton/KBR IPO hangs in the balance today, and many top MSM journalists - ones who deserve that title - are busy confronting the Federal watchdogs who are supposed to police filings like Halliburton's.

A short while ago, I sent the following two e-mails, to assist these journalists.

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Subject: Halliburton Whistleblower Received Death Threats After Cooperating with Federal Investigators

From: editor@halwhistleblowers.org
Date: Wed, Nov 15, 2006 8:11 am
To: editor@halwhistleblowers.org
Cc: cathy.mann@halliburton.com
Bcc: (redacted)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

As noted in my SEC filing dated September 26, 2006:

"On April 17th of this year - three days after the KBR spinoff filing -
I had a lengthy conversation with Mr. Jim Bullock, an attorney with
Halliburton's in-house legal department. He promised to look into the
issue of the mis-directed e-mails <intended for David R. Smith, VP of
Tax at Halliburton> and get back to me. I haven't heard from Mr.
Bullock since April."

Smith adds: "Given what was discussed in those e-mails (the Nigerian
bribery issue), and given that the Department of the Army has recently
issued a Sources Sought Notice to perform a special audit of the
settlement between KBR and the U.S. Government, I don't think now is
the time for Halliburton to be unloading KBR."

Besides the issue of the spinoff, Mr. Bullock also failed to respond to
my concerns over death threats I had recently received from
pro-Halliburton quarters, after my cooperation with Federal officials
came to light.

On April 13th of this year, I received the following: "Wait until 'Dave'
finds out about Smith and Wesson."

I also received: "Sonny, you are in way over your head. Chill before you
really lose something important."

Mr. Bullock promised to follow up on these matters, feigning genuine
concern, and pretending that Halliburton would do everything possible
to look into it. Mr. Bullock is not a man of his word - but I suspect
that both Ms. Mann, paid Halliburton spokesflak, and he will be given
an opportunity to explain themselves on Capitol Hill, under oath (as
well as in Federal Court).

The delay by the British authorities should not be the story here. The
story should be why the SEC is snoozing at the switch here in America.
Former Republican Congressman Chris Cox - currently shilling and
covering for the Bush/Cheney Administration as the head of the SEC -
will have much to answer for, with regard to his own agency's failures
in this matter. As some of you may recall, Congressman Cox was a
principal sponsor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act - a
statute that Bernie Ebbers, Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski, and others of
their ilk have wielded to try to hide their wrongdoing (e.g., the
"automatic stay" on discovery gives corporations an unfair advantage in
legal proceedings, and that was one of Chris Cox's pet provisions in the
Act). The Act was passed by the Gingrichites over President Clinton's
veto. Many of the worst corporate scandals have been covered up,
prolonged, and compounded with the help of Congressman Cox's
pro-corporate sop.

Regardless of whether Congressman Cox's SEC finds its own voice today
with respect to the false and materially misleading Halliburton/KBR IPO
filings, the intended outcome of the Halliburton Heist will not come to
fruition. As discussed yesterday, there are "after the fact" remedies
available to Halliburton's shareholders, including derivative lawsuits
against Halliburton's current and former Directors and Officers
(including Richard B. Cheney), BakerBotts LLP, the underwriters, the
auditors, and all the other self-interested, self-dealing aiders and
abetters.

The KBR spinoff is a shell game - and one worth threatening the life and
limb of a whistleblower over, apparently. The Houston hacks may pretend
to care about the death threats I received, but their lack of action
speaks louder than the words coming out of both sides of Ms. Mann's
mouth.

As soon as the lawsuit is filed, I will make copies available to the
media, and to those Halliburton analysts who specifically request to
receive a copy. A subsequent story could center around the analysts who
didn't bark on this one.

Best regards,

- David A. Smith, Editor of www.HALwhistleblowers.org (placeholder page
to be replaced with full-fledged site soon)

(not to be confused, ever again, with David R. Smith, the
as-yet-unindicted VP of Tax at Halliburton, whose e-mails regarding
foreign bribes - paid for with improperly taxed money - I received by
accident)

P.S. These are my SEC filings so far:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=smith+david+allen&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany
**********************************************************************************

Subject: KBR Cut and Run

From: editor@halwhistleblowers.org
Date: Wed, Nov 15, 2006 8:23 am
To: editor@halwhistleblowers.org
Cc: cathy.mann@halliburton.com
Bcc: (redacted)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The British authorities have expressed concern about KBR's viability as a standalone entity. I expressed these very concerns in this SEC filing, dated October 4, 2006: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/45012/000126947606000012/seekinganinjunctionkbr.htm

For other filings in the series so far: http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=smith+david+allen&CIK=&filenum=&State=&SIC=&owner=include&action=getcompany

Ms. Mann's mouthpiecery notwithstanding, those of you who cover Halliburton are witnessing a heist in slow motion. One need only look to the lawsuits that Halliburton filed against the Dresser retirees - letting asbestos victims suffer without insurance - to see what Halliburton will do to try to wriggle off the hook regarding its KBR obligations under the proposed spinoff: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=halliburton+dresser+retirees+court

Please remember: I've made the representation, in writing, that I will not take the Fifth if called up to Capitol Hill to testify about what I know. To the best of my knowledge, Ms. Mann has dodged, bobbed, and weaved on making the same written representation.

- Dave
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With any luck, this information will help the MSM focus enough attention here for the SEC to wake up and smell the Halliburton Heist. If not, I look forward to hearing Congressman Chris Cox's explanation on Capitol Hill, in his capacity as current SEC Chair.

- Dave