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Doyle Sharp, 52, an orthopedist; and Julia Rooker, 37> a former Braniff flight attendant who has a "close personal relation ship" with Sharp. One non-Texan rounded out the group: Atlanta Stockbroker William Mathis, a longtime Harris colleague, who was a halfback in the '60s for pro football's New York Jets.
According to the SEC, Thayer repeatedly told the group about the planned acquisitions, profits and dividends of Anheuser-Busch, Allied and LTV before public dissemination.
His friends would then buy shares in the companies or their targets and sell at a profit as soon as favorable news caused the stock to rise. In this fashion Thayer's friends allegedly accumulated illegal profits of $1.9 million.
For example, in September 1982, shortly after he learned that Allied planned to try to take over Bendix Corp., Thayer allegedly contacted Ryno and Harris. On Sept. 22, Ryno bought 4,000 shares of Bendix at roughly $60 a share; five days later, after Allied's tender offer had been made public, she sold it at about $73 a share, netting a profit of $51,000. U.S. securities law only penalizes tipsters who "benefit" from passing inside information, and the SEC does not claim that Thayer profited financially from his inside information. The commission will charge, instead, that Thayer benefited simply by improving his relationship with Ryno and the others. The complaint also accuses some of the defendants of trying to "impede and frustrate" the SEC investigation. The Justice Department is looking into possible perjury charges stemming from the SEC inquiry.
Despite Thayer's claims of innocence, the embarrassing charges made his Defense Department post untenable. His departure leaves a large hole high up in the Pentagon hierarchy. Thayer had publicly criticized the military's waste and cost overruns; privately, he liked to brag that he could cut the budget by 20% without sacrificing effectiveness. As de facto chairman of the Pentagon's defense resources board, Thayer had day-to-day control over all agency actions and military procurement. To some defense professionals, he seemed both well placed and well suited to carrying out budget cuts: a hard-nosed businessman and a decorated World War II Navy aviator with a mastery of many weapons systems. But he had another reputation: that of a boisterous cowboy who talked too much and read too little.
Once in a single day, Thayer, whose favorite hobby is flying military jets, piloted an F16, an F-15 and an F18, danced into the small hours at a local disco, and returned in the morning to fly the prototype of a B-1 bomber. He is an avid wild-game hunter ( he decorates his office with his kills) , a motorcycle enthusiast, an expert skier and an amateur rodeo rider.
Thayer's greatest weakness may have been that he lacked the full confidence of Weinberger, who seems more interested in boosting the defense budget than in cutting waste. When Thayer challenged Navy Secretary John Lehman on the need for a 600-ship Navy, Weinberger undercut Thayer at a meeting of top officials. "That session decapitated Thayer as far as the service chiefs were concerned , ' ' recalls a Pentagon insider.