Likely Successor to Warren Buffet Involved in Insider Trading
Sep 15th, 2011 by adrianlai
Widely regarded as the successor to Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, David Sokol shocked everyone when he resigned from the company in March 2011. Though it seemed like a normal resignation at first, it was later revealed that Sokol was involved with an insider trading scandal. Between January 5 and 7 this year, Sokol purchased 96060 stocks of the company Lubrizol at a limit price per share of $104. He would then convince Buffet and the Board to acquire the company for 9 billion at $135 per share, which resulted in approximately 3 million in profit for Sokol.
On April 26, 2011, an audit committee hired by Berkshire Hathaway reported that Sokol’s purchases of Lubrizol shares as a representative of Berkshire Hathaway violated several company policies including Berkshire Hathaway’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and its Insider Trading Policies and Procedures. His actions also violated the trust he owed to the company and delivered significant repetitional losses and other damages to Berkshire.
He could have been the CEO of one of the largest public companies in the world, but Sokol could not overcome his greed, which ultimately led to his downfall.