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Court allows testimony by Mitt Romney in Stemberg divorce case to be unsealed
The case in question began more than 20 years ago, when Mitt Romney--then hedge funder at Bain Capital--testified in the divorce proceedings on behalf of Staples-CEO Tom Stemberg, at the time Romney’s close friend and business partner. The divorce hearings occurred shortly before Staples--which has become the GOP’s misleading poster child for Bain Capital’s financial track record--went public, earning Stemberg and Bain Capital millions.
In the testimony, however, Romney allegedly lied about the future of the company, saying it was “overvalued” and that Stemberg was a “dreamer” for thinking the company could grow large. As a result, Maureen received very little in the divorce settlement--only to learn that her husband and his cohort Mitt Romney quickly turned around and cashed in their own stocks in Staples for a small fortune right after the divorce was finalized.
So far, these allegations have little factual backing, giving the controversy a speculatory nature that feels a little like a media stunt, but is also befitting (in the sweet ironic sense) of the vulture capitalist candidate, whose million-dollar fortune was built on risky, speculation-based leveraged buy-outs.