Officials say presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have been chief of Bain Capital for three years longer than he says.
Security and Exchange Commission documents filed after 1999, the year Romney said he left Bain Capital, showed he was still indicated as the firm's "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president."
Romney has said the bankruptcy of Bain Capital companies and the layoffs of several workers took place after he resigned from the company in February 1999. However, the SEC documents suggest he may have stayed at the helm of the Massachusetts firm until 2002, The Boston Globe reported.
Both the firm and Romney's campaign say the indications in the filings are due to legal technicalities, and maintain he had no role in the firm after 1999.
Former SEC commissioner and current professor at Brooklyn Law School Roberta S. Karmel says none of it adds up.
"You can't say statements filed with the SEC are meaningless," he told the Globe. "It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to say he was technically in charge on paper but he had nothing to do with Bain's operations."
"Was he getting paid? He's the sole stockholder. Are you telling me he owned the company but had no say in its investments?" she added.
