Cohl Sells LN Stock

One way to bury unpleasant news is to release it when it will attract the least attention – like during a presidential inauguration.

Live Nation announced two filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission Jan. 20, both related to former chairman Michael Cohl and both involving a large amount of stock.

Cohl has divested 356,608 shares, about 40 percent, of his remaining stock in Live Nation, which closed at $4.85 the day
the sale was reported. The shares were what remained of his CPI and KSC stock, companies he sold to Live Nation in 2006.

Another filing was simultaneously announced, regarding more than 3.7 million shares of Live Nation originally registered to Samco Investments, a Turks & Caicos corporation.

Samco transferred those shares to SQ Portfolio Management, registered in the British Virgin Islands, on June 20. SQ is wholly owned by EnterVest Portfolios International, which in turn is wholly owned by Continental Trust Company Ltd., a Bermuda corporation. Still with us? We’re not done yet.

CTC is directly controlled by one Sutherland Arthur Morris, a citizen of Bermuda – which just happens to be where Cohl keeps a home, business affairs and is believed to have a pecuniary interest in the four “Sam-co Reporting Persons,” as the SEC refers to the Caribbean companies.

And it should be noted that the “Samco Reporting Persons,” which control 4.79 percent of all Live Nation shares, have neither Social Security nor Internal Revenue Service identification numbers.

As the interwoven entities all exist in Caribbean tax havens, they are ensured privacy as to their activities and investors – so whether Cohl has transferred his shares to Morris and his companies is a question that likely will remain unanswered.