Today’s WaPo: SEC, Justice Investigate Frist’s Sale of Stock:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is facing questions from the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission about his sale of stock in his family’s hospital company one month before its price fell sharply.

[…]

A spokesman said Frist’s office has been contacted by both the SEC and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan about his divestiture of the stock. HCA disclosed separately that it was subpoenaed by the same U.S. attorney’s office for documents that were related to Frist’s sale. Frist and HCA said they are cooperating.

The piece also makes a very good point about the political implications:

Analysts said that Frist’s White House hopes might be harmed by the probe and that Republicans in general might be penalized politically. Because few voters know Frist well, learning about him through an investigation “would not be a good way to be introduced to the American public,” said Stuart Rothenberg of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

No joke.

Here’s the original WaPo story: Frist Stock Sale Raises Questions on Timing.

And here’s Frist’s story, and at the moment he is sticking to it:

She [Frist’s spokesperson] said Frist’s decision was based “purely on wanting to avoid any future appearances of conflict” while pursuing new health initiatives, and said he had no way of knowing — under the rules of the blind trusts — how quickly the stock would be sold.

Steve Bainbridge comments on the legalities of insider trading here and on the politics of the situation here.