U. S. Senator Bob Corker meets with members of the Chattanooga Time Free Press editorial board Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Statement from Bob Corker
Corker’s statement on unreported CBL stock purchases: “I am extremely disappointed in the filing errors that were made in these earlier reports where the accounting firm mistakenly used realized gain/loss methodology instead of the Senate financial disclosure guidelines. Therefore, in a few cases, only the sale and gain or loss of the transaction was reported. As a result of this inquiry, and after completing a full review, we are correcting this oversight.” Statement from Corker’s office: “The senator always has disclosed to the public that he invests in CBL since he first held stock in the company back in 2007. The accounting firm that worked on his financial disclosure reports properly listed the sale and gain or loss of some transactions, but did not list the day they were purchased so after completing a full review, we are correcting this technical oversight.”
File photo / CBL headquarters in ChattanoogaNASHVILLE — Over a several year period, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., omitted a dozen stock purchases he made in Chattanooga-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc. from his required Senate personal financial disclosures, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said that in one previously unknown instance, Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor and real estate developer, in late 2011 purchased between $1 million and $5 million of stock in CBL, one of the nation’s largest shopping mall operators where Corker began his career.
He sold the stock five months later for a 42 percent gain, the newspaper reported.
In 2009, The Journal said, a pair of Corker purchases in accounts in the name of his daughters “likely” resulted in a $1 million-plus gain, although the newspaper said the exact profit was impossible to calculate.