Uncle Bucky slapped stockholders on the ass.
President George W. Bush’s uncle, William H.T. “Bucky” Bush, was part of a group of outside directors at a defense contractor who realized about $6 million in unauthorized pay from an options backdating scheme, according to U.S. securities investigators.
Bush and other non-employee directors who served on the board of Engineered Support Systems Inc., now owned by DRS Technologies Inc., are not accused of any wrongdoing in a civil complaint filed on Tuesday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC complaint, however, says the non-employee directors benefited from stock options not approved by shareholders.
“As a result, the company provided significant additional compensation to its outside directors beyond what shareholders had approved,” the SEC complaint said. “These same directors later realized approximately $6 million from the exercise of their addtional stock options.”
[snip]
Bush, whose brother is former President George H.W. Bush, was unavailable for comment. He served on St. Louis-based ESSI’s board from 2000 until the St. Louis defense contractor was acquired last year for nearly $2 billion by DRS, which sells engineering services to the U.S. military.
Bush served on ESSI’s audit committee and received $2,500 a month in consulting fees, an arrangement that later was ended for him and other outside directors. Bush also received a fixed amount of ESSI shares each year for his work on the board.
[snip]
Between 1995 and early 2005, ESSI’s stock climbed nearly 900 percent as the company sold cargo loaders, generators and trailers to the Pentagon. ESSI’s board was politically connected and included several retired generals.
[snip]
Outside directors received backdated options issued in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001, the SEC complaint alleges.
Did you ever notice how much Bucky Bush and Jeb Bush look alike?
Bucky
Jeb
Makes you wonder…