The Mason Kirby lawsuit over the alleged insider trading by David Sokol was dismissed by the Delaware Chancery Court several weeks ago. I was unable to find copies of the article discussing the dismal or a copy of the dismissal online. However it looks like for now, the legal troubles for David Sokol and Berkshire Hathaway caused by Mr. Sokol’s actions are over for now.
Tag: David Sokol
David L. Sokol (born 1956) was a Chairman, President and CEO of NetJets along with Chairman of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, of which Berkshire Hathaway holds a 100% and 89.8% stake respectively. He resigned March 28, 2011. Previously, Sokol served as the Chief Executive Officer of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company (formerly CalEnergy Company Inc.) a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. from April 19, 1993 to April 16, 2008. He served as the President of MidAmerican Energy Holdings from April 19, 1993 to January 21, 1995. Formerly, among other positions held in the independent power industry, Sokol served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kiewit Energy Company, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Peter Kiewit Sons’ Inc., and Ogden Projects Inc. Sokol served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Managers of MidAmerican Funding LLC, a subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings, since its formation in March 1999. He served as a Manager of Berkshire.
Wrapping Up on David Sokol (for now)
It has been widely reported, and as Reuters is reporting, that Warren Buffett now feels David Sokol deceived him and broke the law. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that this apparently serious enough for the Board of Directors of Bershkshire Hathaway is considering filing a lawsuit against David Sokol. For David Sokol what appears to the be the most problematic is the revelation that he
Berkshire Hathaway’s Board of Directors Report on David Sokol
Thanks to our friends at the Wall Street Journal I found a copy of Berkshire Hathaway’s Board of Directors Audit Committee Report on David Sokol’s trading in the shares o Lubrizol. A copy of the report can be found here: http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Berk_Board.pdf
I am going to read through the report, the Berkshire Memo on Insider Trading and be back with my comments in the next day or so. I’ll let you know what I think happened and what I think lies in store for Mr. Sokol.
A Little Bit More on Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and David Sokol
This weekend saw the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. Obviously the hot topic of conversation; David Sokol. So, I thought I would take a few quick minutes to comment on some of the recent items in the press and items posted to our main site.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Warren Buffett claims David Sokol misled him: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/05/01/warren-buffett-on-david-sokol-no-question-he-misled-me/
It appears that following those remarks by Buffett, David Sokol’s attorney decided to issue a statement defending Sokol, and criticizing Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/04/30/david-sokol-defends-himself-against-warren-buffett/
Mason Kirby (on Behalf of Berkshire Hathaway) v. David Sokol and the Berkshire Board
Thanks to our friends at Bloomberg we have found we have found a copy of the Mason Kirby lawsuit over the David Sokol, Lubrizol trades. A copy of which can be found here: http://media.bloomberg.com/bb/avfile/r3SCX27MJMSg
I’ll be back later with some additional comments once I have had a chance to read the complaint in greater detail.
A Look at David Sokol’s Trades and The Fallout
It has been a couple of weeks since Warren Buffett’s startling announcement that David Sokol bought shares of Lubrizol for his personal account ahead of Berkshire’s acquisition of the company. For a time it looked like Warren’s efforts to get out in front of the issue with the press had been successful. However, last week Reuters reported on April 19th, that “Berkhire, Buffet Sued Over Sokol’s Trades.” I thought that now might be a good time to take a look at Mr. Sokol’s activity, what he has done wrong, and