tasks as the Republican nominee for

president is to explain his business career,

which has been the subject of attacks since

last winter’s primaries. The genesis of his

extraordinary wealth is something that he’s

rarely spoken about on the campaign trail in

detail. And when he finally did try to address

the issue at the Republican National

Convention, he never actually mentioned the

name of the private equity firm he ran for

decades – Bain Capital.

A new report by Politicker’s Hunter Walker

helps explain why Romney shies from

defending his firm’s practices. In addition to

buying companies – often strong companies

that could be loaded with debt, Bain also

invested in firms that could wring profit from

crisis. Consider Equity Specialty Holdings, a

reinsurance startup specifically created to

purchase debt from insurance companies

badly hit by the 9/11 attacks.

Walker reports that “Mr. Romney was

invested in Endurance Specialty Holdings

both through Golden Gate Capital, a private

equity firm founded by a former Bain Capital

executive in 2000 and through his direct

interest in another investment firm, CCG

Investment Fund, LP.”

The opportunity for Equity Specialty

Holdings was simple. Its management could

invest in insurers that badly needed to cover

losses due to 9/11, and reap enormous

benefit from the increased fees that the

surviving insurance companies could then

charge. The results were astounding: “Over

the next nine months, the company

generated a net income of $63.5 million. By

the end of 2003, the company was reporting

net income of $263.4 million.”

The Romney family disavows any knowledge

or responsibility for this investment, saying

that their money is in a blind trust. Famously,

Romney dismissed Ted Kennedy’s identical

response in 1994, ridiculing blind trusts as

an “age-old ruse.”

Bain’s reinsurance investment occurred in

that murky period when Romney had left

Bain in order to work on the 2002 Winter

Olympics, yet remained the CEO of the firm.

During that period, Bain made many of its

most controversial layoffs and investments –

including investing in Stericycle, a company

that went on to dispose of aborted fetuses. A

Bain executive has said Romney retained his

position in Bain as leverage while he

negotiated his retirement package. The

implication is that he retained the power to

affect the company’s business.

The world of private equity baffles most

Americans with its tangled web of ownership

and the ability to profit off bankruptcies. But

it’s understandable that Romney would seek

to distance himself from controversial

investments. Profiting from 9/11 doesn’t fit

well with his campaign slogan, “Believe in

America.”