Alabama U.S. Senate Hopeful Tommy Tuberville Ran Wall Street Hedge Fund That Fell Apart Due to Fraud
Shane Trejo
|
After posting a mediocre record at Auburn University as a football coach, fledgling Alabama U.S. Senate contender Tommy Tuberville failed miserably on Wall Street founding a hedge fund mired in fraud.
Tuberville partnered with former Lehman Brothers broker John David Stroud over a decade ago to form TS Capital Management and TS Capital Partners. The ventures ended up sinking amidst fraud allegations, which resulted in Stroud being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Tuberville did not end up in jail, but his involvement in the project led to his own investors suing him. The investors accused him of being involved in the fraud and neglecting his fiduciary responsibility to protect their investments. Tuberville reached a private settlement with the investors in 2013.
On the campaign trail, Tuberville has downplayed his role the failed hedge fund, claiming dubiously that he was only “an investor like the rest of them.”
“They sued me because I invested in it, and he used my name to get other people to put money in,” he said. “There was nothing ever implicated by anybody that I’d done anything wrong. I felt bad that he used my name.”
An examination of public court documents show that Tuberville is misrepresenting his role in the operation. Tuberville greeted potential investors and sold them on the venture, had business cards listing him as managing partner, and even leased his BMW and had health insurance provided through the business. Email records show that he was kept in the loop about the day-to-day operations of the company, including hiring.
Tuberville’s campaign chairman, Stan McDonald, noted that the candidate’s role in the hedge fund “was a big mistake, and he’s paid for it.”
“Coach Tuberville was as surprised as anyone to learn Stroud had lost all the money, including Coach’s. He never received a dime; it was a dead loss for him and his family,” Mr. McDonald said. “The Lord humbles us on many occasions, and this was such a moment for Coach.”
Overall, Tuberville lost $2 million from his Wall Street blunders. As is the case with many prospective politicians, Tuberville could not hack it in the private sector so he is attempting to get a government paycheck instead.
Big League Politics has reported on Tuberville’s campaign as he attempts to stop his “America First” opponent Jeff Sessions from reclaiming his Senate seat. Tuberville has been ducking Sessions, hoping to stay under the radar as he clings to a shrinking lead in the polls:
As the Republican primary runoff for nomination for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, football coach Tommy Tuberville is doubling down on a strategy of refusing to debate former Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, leaving serious questions about his immigration policy positions unanswered.
Tuberville hopes to cruise to an easy victory on the basis of support from Donald Trump, who remains incensed at Sessions over a feud related to his former Attorney General’s recusal from Robert Mueller’s witch hunt Russia investigation. But Sessions has emphasized that the feud- now in the past- can’t be all that comes under consideration for Alabama’s Republican voters.
Tuberville steadfastly refuses to clarify some of his troubling statements related to immigration policy, including stating that the United States needs 400,000 Indian visa workers to provide labor for America’s corporations. Tuberville continues to rebuff attempts from Sessions to organize a debate to discuss actual policy before the July 14th runoff election, which will determine who will go on to face Democrat Doug Jones in November.
Sessions reiterated that Tuberville refuses to participate in a debate in a tweet responding to President Trump’s latest criticism of him, pointing out that Tuberville’s GOPe sympathies render him a suspect so-called supporter of the President’s ‘MAGA’ agenda.
In yet another demonstration of stark anachronism with Republican voters of today, Tuberville has even said that “we can’t worry about China” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
In stark contrast with Tuberville, Jeff Sessions has what is almost certainly the strongest conservative track record on immigration policy of any former Senator or congressman. He’s almost single-handedly derailed several amnesty attempts, and most recently led the charge in calling for a federal immigration moratorium in response to the coronavirus recession that President Trump has partially implemented.
The GOP runoff primary election between Tuberville and Sessions will take place on July 14. The winner will go on to face incumbent Doug Jones in the general election in November.
Share: