Meanwhile, The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville, is reporting that Senator Frist may have been involved with insider trading. The paper reports that Frist sold his stock in a company his family founded just before the stock took a significant dive in July. Frist’s father founded the company, the Hospital Corporation of America, in 1968, and the senator’s brother remains its largest shareholder, owning more than $271 million in stock. This isn’t the first time that Frist’s connection to HCA has been a source of embarrassment for him. In 2000, HCA agreed to pay more than $95 million to settle criminal fraud charges after having already paid out $745 million in civil fines and penalties related to an alleged conspiracy to defraud government health care programs by paying kickbacks to doctors and submitting false bills. At the time, the criminal fraud settlement was the largest in US history. HCA employees and its political-action committee have given Frist more than $80,000 — more money in campaign contributions over his career than any other donor.