HCA Probed in ‘Timely’ Frist Stock Sale

The biggest U.S. hospital corporation said Friday investigators subpoenaed documents related to a stock sale by Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

HCA Inc., which was founded by Frist’s father and brother, said it believed the subpoena from the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office relates to the sale of HCA stock Frist. The company said it intends to cooperate fully with the office of the U.S. Attorney in this matter.

Between April 1 and June 30, HCA insiders sold nearly 1.8 million shares of stock worth nearly $100 million, the Nashville Tennessean reported Friday. The newspaper’s report came after an analysis of Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Near the end of that three-month sell-off period Frist, the Senate’s top Republican, directed his trust manager to sell all of his and his immediate family’s HCA stock, valued somewhere between $10 million to $30 million.

Shortly thereafter, on July 13, an HCA earnings warning resulted in a sharp drop in the share price.

California’s Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights complained to the Senate Ethics Committee about Frist’s HCA holdings last year, has asked the SEC to investigate the sale.