Judge Martin Feldman in Gulf Oil Spill Case Sells Oil Company Stocks
After his ruling, it emerged that Feldman, who was appointed to the bench by President Ronald Reagan, has owned stock in several oil and energy companies. His latest financial disclosure report, covering investments in 2009, shows he owned eight energy-related investments, including stock in Exxon Mobil. A previous report covering 2008 shows he owned up to 16 such investments.
But a note attached to the 2009 report, which was disclosed Friday, says Feldman sold his Exxon Mobil stock earlier this month while working on the oil spill case. Details were reported by several news agencies.
An Exxon Mobil spokeswoman, Cynthia Bergman White, confirmed that the company was one of those hurt by the Obama administration's moratorium, telling the Wall Street Journal that Exxon used a rig whose operations were suspended under the ban.
Feldman told the newspaper he only learned of his Exxon holdings on Monday, the day before his ruling, and sold them right away.
Among the other assets Feldman sold were shares in Transocean Ltd, the Switzerland-based company that owns the Deepwater Horizon rig, which BP was leasing at the time of the April explosion.
In 2009, Feldman's stock in Exxon Mobile was valued at $15,000 or less and generated income for him of less than $1,000, his financial disclosure showed. Another of his investments, in Ocean Energy, is categorized as having a value between $15,001 and $50,000, yielding interest of between $1,001 and $2,500. His other holdings are in companies such as Provident Energy Trust, El Paso Corp., Energy Transfer Equity, Basic Energy Services, Valero Energy Corp. and Crosstex Energy LP.