Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994 TAG: 9405270124
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post Note: below
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The computerized records of her trades, which the White House obtained from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, explain for the first time how she was able to turn her initial investment into $6,300 overnight. In about 10 months of trading, she made nearly $100,000, relying heavily on advice from her friend James Blair, an experienced futures trader.
The new records also raise the possibility that some of her profits - as much as $40,000 - came from trades actually ordered by someone else and allocated to her account, according to Leo Melamed, a former chairman of the exchange who reviewed the records for the White House. Mercantile Exchange records show that her broker, Robert Bone of Ray E. Friedman and Co., was making large orders in 1979 and allocating them to customers' accounts, a violation of exchange regulations.
Lisa Caputo, Clinton's spokeswoman, said the documents were released Thursday ``to give as complete a picture as possible'' of her trades. She said Clinton never had before seen them.
Blair, who ordered most of Clinton's trades, said in a recent interview that he ``talked her into'' her first futures trade in October 1978 before paperwork on her account was completed. It was liquidated quickly, he recalled, because ``it was bigger than she wanted and required more money.''
A close examination of her individual trades underscores Blair's pivotal role. It also shows that Bone allowed Clinton to initiate and maintain many trading positions when she did not have enough money in her account to cover them.
by CNB