A Democratic congressman who wants to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks has violated an existing conflicts-of-interest and transparency law by failing to properly disclose a personal stock sale.
New York Rep. Pat Ryan reported selling up to $50,000 worth of private stock shares in OnSolve LLC — an AI technology and emergency alert company in part used by governments — on July 31, 2024.
But Ryan didn’t publicly reveal the sale until last week — more than a year past a federally mandated 45-day deadline for disclosing such stock trades, according to a congressional financial document reviewed by NOTUS.
Ryan joins a host of other federal lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, who’ve similarly violated the disclosure provisions of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act this year.
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In response to questions from NOTUS, Ryan spokesperson Sam Silverman said the congressman invested in the business, which was led by a friend from West Point, more than a decade ago, before he entered Congress.
The company has gone through a “series of transactions” and was ultimately sold, Silverman said. Ryan does not otherwise trade individual stocks.
“Due to his small early-stage investment, Pat didn’t have any option to not transfer his shares, any ability to weigh in on the sale, and was not even notified of the sale,” he said. “When he learned about the sale, he notified the proper parties and filed a report.”
Ryan plans to pay a standard $200 fine for violating the disclosure provisions of the STOCK Act.
Lawmakers are “personally responsible for incomplete and inaccurate information” in their financial reports, a financial disclosure instruction guide from the House Committee on Ethics reads, “regardless of who assisted in preparation.”
Ryan, whose New York 18th Congressional District includes Poughkeepsie and Hudson Valley areas wedged north of New York City inside the New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania state lines, has been a consistent and outspoken advocate against congressional stock trading.
“We need to clean up corruption in Washington and restore faith and trust in our democracy, and this is the place to start,” Ryan said in 2022.
“It is time for comprehensive reform to ensure politicians serve the people, not themselves,” Ryan said more recently, in June. “No more getting rich off trading stocks.”
Ryan has not yet signed on to the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which emerged last month as a leading bipartisan legislative vehicle for banning members of Congress and their immediate family members from investing in individual stocks.
To date, it has 80 sponsors and co-sponsors in the House, with supporters ranging from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the left to Republican Rep. Nancy Mace on the right.
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