Romney Testified in 2002 That He Sat on Boards of Bain Investments

Following a report on Thursday that Mitt Romney continued to hold high-ranking positions at Bain Capital well after he claimed he had left, testimony from 2002 has surfaced suggesting that the presumptive GOP nominee may have played an active role on the board of several Bain investments.

The Huffington Post reported Thursday that in sworn testimony in June 2002, Romney, who had organized the Salt Lake City Olympics held earlier that year, said he regularly traveled back east for “social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth.”

The testimony was part of a hearing to determine whether Romney met residency requirements to run for governor. He also testified that he "remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation," according to The Huffington Post.

Romney’s exact departure date from the company has become a critical issue in the campaign because he has claimed that he was not involved with the company when some of its holdings went bankrupt or had to lay off workers. It is also critical in determining whether Romney played any role in alleged outsourcing.

Romney has said that his involvement with Bain ceased after February 1999. Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the candidate, said in a statement that, “Governor Romney left Bain Capital in February of 1999 to run the Olympics and had no input on investments or management of companies after that point."

There is also other evidence that supports Romney's claim that he did not manage Bain investments after he left to take over the Olympics. Fortune magazine obtained confidential "offering documents" from Bain in 2000 and 2001 that listed managers of various private equity funds and do not include Romney's name on them. Another fund does not list Romney in January 2001 as among its "key investment professionals."

Get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox. Sign up for National Journal's morning alert, Wake-Up Call, and afternoon newsletter, The Edge. Subscribe here.