Perhaps my 20 or so readers remember the name DHB Industries. I wrote about it here, and here, and here. David H Brooks and his amazing deep-pockets Bush donor armor is in the news again:

Former executives of US body armor firm arrested

U.S. authorities arrested two former top executives of a major body armor supplier to the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies on Thursday and charged them with criminal securities fraud and insider trading.

Federal prosecutors alleged former Chief Financial Officer Dawn Schlegel and former Chief Operating Officer Sandra Hatfield manipulated DHB Industries Inc.'s books "to reap millions of dollars of profits through insider trading."

The lawsuit was a fresh blow to DHB. The U.S. military last year recalled thousands of protective vests sold by DHB's Point Blank Body Armor Inc. unit on quality concerns.

The company was recently delisted from the American Stock Exchange. Last month it placed Chief Executive David Brooks on indefinite leave pending the outcome of investigations.

Shares in Pompano Beach, Florida,-based DHB were down 2.6 percent at $3.00 each at midday in Pink Sheets trading.

To get delisted and posted to the pink sheets – the “penny stocks” is like driving Clemenza and his cannolis down to the end of Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn. Now, you can make money on penny stocks. I just cashed an $1100 dividend check from some 450 odd shares of stocks that I bought back in 1982. For me, that was a 400% profit, the sweetness somewhat lessened by the 24 year wait. I’d forgotten I owned the beast. Buying into the pink sheets is for folks who like to roll dice, bt can't afford the $10 bus ride to Atlantic City.

But Mr Brooks seems to have weathered it all somehow:

Even if 2004 wasn't the best year for your portfolio, it sure was for a lot of U.S. corporate executives and insiders. According to Thomson Financial data, last year was the second most lucrative on record for insiders as they sold $41 billion worth of their shares to the public, a figure that was up 40% from 2003. … Among the biggest sellers were…David H. Brooks of armor maker DHB Industries [who] sent $106 million worth of his shares to the open market on Dec. 29. The stock is off about 20% since that sale.

Gee, a 2004 sale. He certainly was lucky, wasn’t he? Or prescient. It almost looks like he sold off his shares in anticipation of…

There’s a form online, dated Aug 3, 2006, a mandatory filing for the SEC, Form 8-K which explains how Mr Brooks had his feet held to the fire by the SEC. Basically, they forced him to liquidate some of his go-go option bonus and return it to an escrow account to settle a class action lawsuit and a shareholders’ derivative lawsuit. To get out from under the lawsuits, Brooksie had to hand over about $21,825,000 in the settlement, if my math is right. Additionally, he was placed on “indefinite leave” pending the resolution of the lawsuits.

I hope you all realize that these two women were “bad apples” operating all by themselves. Don’t take the example of Enron and apply it to this case. Just because the Feds started with the lower down executives, and worked their way up the corporate ladder doesn’t mean that will happen in this case.

Of course not. Anyone who will be surprised if Mr Brooks suffers an unexpected heart attack right after his conviction, please raise your hands.

Thanks to Susie Madrak, the Uber Blonde, for the tip.