Questions raised about timing of Romney's departure from Bain

Mitt Romney signed regulatory documents identifying himself as Bain Capital’s CEO and chairman for three years after he said he left the firm, according to the Boston Globe. 

Romney has said he left Bain Capital in 1999 to manage the Salt Lake City Olympics, but documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reviewed by the Globe show that Romney was listed as the firm’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president” through 2002. He signed a financial disclosure form saying he owned 100 percent of the company through 2002, and that he was paid at least $100,000 as an executive of the firm during those years, according to the Globe. 

Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the report is inaccurate, and pointed to fact-checking groups and news reports from the time that said Romney was running the Olympics full time and had parted from the private equity firm he founded.

"The article is not accurate,” Saul said in a statement. “As Bain Capital has said, as Gov. Romney has said, and as has been confirmed by independent fact-checkers multiple times, Gov. Romney left Bain Capital in February of 1999 to run the Olympics and had no input on investments or management of companies after that point."

The timing is key because the Obama campaign has attacked Romney for some companies that were acquired by Bain and ultimately failed. Romney has countered that he was no longer with the company when some of those acquisitions occurred.

Still, the report adds to the Obama campaign’s avalanche of attacks against Romney over how much he has divulged about his wealth, estimated at nearly $250 million, and about his background as a corporate financier.

The Obama team has hit Romney for not releasing tax returns prior to 2010, for holding accounts overseas in vehicles parked in the Cayman Islands and Swiss bank accounts, and for his role in Bain acquisitions that led to outsourced jobs or company failures.

Romney’s most recent Federal Election Commission financial disclosure form said that “since Feb. 11, 1999, Mr. Romney has not had any active role with any Bain Capital entity and has not been involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way.”

The Globe report cited an anonymous campaign official who said the contradiction in timing was due to legal technicalities with the filings. Bain told the paper that Romney has not had any managerial control over the company since 1999.

---