Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar, one of the wealthier members of Congress, said he plans to voluntarily sell off all of his individual stock holdings after NOTUS asked about Thanedar’s recent violation of a law designed to defend against conflicts of interest and promote government transparency.
Thanedar failed to publicly report — until Monday — up to $50,000 worth of MicroStrategy Incorporated shares he bought more than 13 months ago, a violation of the STOCK Act’s 30-day deadline for disclosing such a trade.
Thanedar’s decision, which he explained in a phone call to NOTUS, comes as debate rages in Congress over whether lawmakers should be allowed to buy and sell stocks in the first place.
MicroStrategy, which has rebranded to the name Strategy, is a business intelligence and software company with billions of dollars in cryptocurrency holdings. Thanedar sits on a cryptocurrency-related congressional subcommittee that has recently conducted hearings such as “American innovation and the future of digital assets: a blueprint for the 21st century.”
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“I report literally hundreds of transactions, and this one, somehow, we didn’t see it until recently. As soon as we saw it, we decided to report it,” Thanedar told NOTUS.
Thanedar said he has not been in contact with the House Committee on Ethics, which enforces the STOCK Act, and has not yet been asked to pay the standard STOCK Act disclosure violation fine of $200.
“If I’m asked to pay, I will pay,” he said.
Going forward, the Michigan lawmaker says he’s directed his financial advisers to quit investing in individual stocks and sell off the ones that remain.
“Members of Congress should not trade in individual stocks,” Thanedar said. “Many of my individual stock purchases I did are from years before I was in Congress. My goal is to get rid of all the individual stocks in my portfolio, but it takes time.”
Thanedar’s most recent annual financial disclosure, covering his finances during 2024, indicates he possessed millions of dollars worth of individual stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrency fund assets.
This is the second time Thanedar has violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions. In 2023, Raw Story reported that the congressman was two months late filing an annual personal financial disclosure.
Thanedar is joined by dozens of other federal lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — who have violated the STOCK Act’s disclosure provisions in recent years, according to various media reports.
During this year alone, STOCK Act scofflaws include Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin and Reps. Neal Dunn, Scott Franklin, Brandon Gill and Tim Moore, as well as Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Dwight Evans, Jamie Raskin and Chellie Pingree.
Similar to Thanedar, Democratic Reps. Greg Landsman and George Whitesides have previously promised to quit trading individual stocks to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest.
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