Doris Buffett Said to Invest At Failed Firm
Doris Buffett, sister of Omaha investor Warren Buffett, apparently was one of two customers of a Falls Church brokerage company whose heavy stock market losses forced the firm to close its doors last week, according to sources.</br></br>sw,-0 The two customers, who lost $6 million in the market's collapse, defaulted on $2.6 million in obligations owed to the firm, First Potomac Securities Corp., said Carole L. Haynes, the company's president. She declined to identify the customers.</br></br>sw One customer, who apparently was Doris Buffett, owed $1.4 million because of losses in stock and option transactions. Attempts to contact Buffett were unsuccessful. William Leber, an attorney from Hilton Head, S.C., said he represented one of the customers but wouldn't identify which one. "My client doesn't have any comment. I can't confirm or deny the report," he said.</br></br>Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Co. Inc., is a highly successful investor whose net worth recently was estimated at $2.1 billion by Forbes magazine.</br></br>Sources said that Doris Buffett's losses came on investments in stocks or options purchased through a margin account, which allows investors to pay for only part of the investment. The rest is borrowed from the brokerage firm.