Financial Status
Frist has a fortune in the millions of dollars, most of it the result of his ownership of stock in Hospital Corporation of America, the for-profit hospital chain founded by his brother and father. Frist's 2005 financial disclosure form lists blind trusts valued between $15 million and $45 million.
Members of the Frist family have been major donors to Princeton University, pledging a reported $25 million in 1997 for the construction of the Frist Campus Center. Frist has said that, a few years after his 1974 graduation from Princeton, "I made a commitment to myself that if I was ever in a position to help pull together the resources to establish a center where there could be an informal exchange of ideas, and to establish an environment that is conducive to the casual exchange of information, I would do so." Daniel Golden, a Wall Street Journal journalist and author of the book The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges — and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates, has suggested that two of Frist's sons (Harrison and Bryan) were admitted to Princeton as recognition of this donation rather than their own academic and extracurricular merit.
Bill and Karyn Frist are the sole trustees in charge of a family foundation bearing the senator's name, which had more than $2 million in assets in 2004. He and his siblings are vice presidents of another charitable foundation bearing their parents' names. Frist failed to list his positions with the two foundations on his Senate disclosure form. In July 2006, when the matter was raised by the Associated Press, his staff said the form would be amended. Frist has previously disclosed his board position with World of Hope, a charity that gives money to causes associated with AIDS. The charity has come under scrutiny for paying consulting fees to members of Frist's political inner circle.
The status of Frist’s blind trust, and subsequent statements about it and activities within it led to an SEC Investigations of the trustees June 13, 2005 sale. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued subpoenas to investigate the sale, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began an insider trading investigation of the sale. After an 18 month investigation, the SEC closed its probe without pressing charges. Frist said in a statement, "I've always conducted myself according to the highest ethical standards in both my personal and public life, and my family and I are pleased that this matter has been resolved."
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