Three more members of Congress have violated an insider trading and transparency law, according to a NOTUS review of federal financial records, making them the latest in a litany of lawmakers who’ve blown by a federally mandated deadline for publicly disclosing their personal financial investments.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Michigan) violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act by not disclosing a January sale of Apple stock, worth between $100,001 and $250,000, until Thursday. He likewise didn’t disclose an October sale of stock in MicroStrategy, one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin, until Thursday, as well.
In an email to NOTUS, Thanedar said his wife sold her MicroStrategy shares at a 17% loss — bought for $19,805 and sold for $16,410. The company recently rebranded to the name Strategy.“As soon as we realized the sale, we filed it and will accept the applicable penalties,” said Thanedar, who recently lost his reelection campaign.
The STOCK Act mandates that federal lawmakers disclose individual stock, bond and cryptocurrency trades within 45 days of making them. Penalties for late disclosures begin at $200.
Trending
This is the third time Thanedar has violated the STOCK Act. Last year, after his second violation, he told NOTUS that he would voluntarily divest of his individual stock holdings. On Friday, he reiterated that he supports “actual efforts to ban congressional stock trading.”
Rep. Tracey Mann (R-Kansas) was nearly two years late disclosing 10 tech-heavy stock trades made by his wife and involving companies that include Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and NVIDIA.
Taken together, the trades are worth between $10,010 and $150,000. (Lawmakers are only required to disclose the values of their trades in broad ranges.)
Mann’s Washington congressional office acknowledged NOTUS’ request for comment but did not otherwise respond to phone and email messages.
Rep. Derek Tran (D-California) was about a year late disclosing the sale of Litecoin, a cryptocurrency, according to a document filed Thursday with Congress.
Tran spokesperson Jindalae Suh said the congressman did not disclose it because he believed the value of his Litecoin sale fell below a $1,000 threshold for publicly reporting a stock, bond or cryptocurrency trade.
But the sale ultimately “crossed that threshold because of cryptocurrency volatility,” Suh told NOTUS. “Once he became aware of that, he promptly disclosed it. Congressman Tran has consistently supported greater transparency and stronger restrictions to prevent members of Congress from using public office for personal profit.” A lack of STOCK Act compliance is among the reasons cited by members of Congress pressing for a stronger conflicts-of-interest and insider trading law featuring greater consequences.
In July, the House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act — a Republican-backed measure that earned limited support from Democrats, including Tran — that would in part ban federal lawmakers from buying new individual stocks while serving in office. The bill, which some Democratic detractors have called too weak, awaits consideration in the Senate.
Senators who’ve violated the STOCK Act during the past year include Sens. Alan Armstrong (R-Oklahoma), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), Katie Britt (R-Alabama), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania).
In the House, STOCK Act violators include Reps. Michael Rulli (R-Ohio), Julie Johnson (D-Texas), Linda Sánchez (D-California), Julia Letlow (R-Louisiana), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Lisa McClain (R-Michigan), Pat Ryan (D-New York), Sheri Biggs (R-South Carolina), Donald Norcross (D-New Jersey), Tim Walberg (R-Michigan), Rich McCormick (R-Georgia), Ritchie Torres (D-New York), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania), Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois), George Whitesides (D-California), Val Hoyle (D-Oregon), Austin Scott (R-Georgia), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida), Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), Kelly Morrison (D-Minnesota), Christian Menefee (D-Texas), Daniel Webster (R-Florida), Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), Laurel Lee (R-Florida) and Scott Franklin (R-Florida). Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Oklahoma) was also late, although his office denies it.
Author
