The Department of Transportation’s top highways official is personally investing in the transportation industry.
From late December to early January, Sean McMaster, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, purchased between $30,002 and $100,000 worth of stock in Grab Holdings Limited, a Singaporean company that provides various transportation services, including taxi booking, ride hailing and food delivery, according to a certified Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure.
This adds to a Grab Holdings Limited stock purchase McMaster made in October, valued at $15,001 to $50,000, a separate Office of Government Ethics filing indicates.
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High-level executive branch officials are allowed under federal ethics rules to trade individual stocks so long as the investments don’t pose a conflict of interest with their public duties. A representative for McMaster told NOTUS there’s no problem with the administrator’s Grab Holdings Limited stock investment.
“Sean McMaster is in full compliance with federal ethics requirements,” Melissa Braid, a Federal Highway Administration spokesperson, said in an email. “All financial disclosures are reviewed by career officials to ensure they do not pose a conflict of interest with his official duties.”
One government watchdog organization executive is not convinced.
“This investment at least gives the appearance of impropriety and conflict of interest,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, the acting vice president of policy and government affairs for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.
McMaster’s recent disclosure also indicates that he invested up to $15,000 on Jan. 9 in the financial-trading platform Robinhood Markets and up to $50,000 on Jan. 13 in One Stop Systems, which advertises itself as a manufacturer of computer systems for “defense, oil and gas, mining, autonomous vehicles and rugged entertainment applications.”
The Federal Highway Administration is the division of the Transportation Department that assists state and local governments with the “design, construction and maintenance of the nation’s highway system.”
McMaster filed his stock-trade disclosure, as required by law, on Jan. 20.
A week later, on Jan. 27, Judith Kaleta, from the Office of Government Ethics, wrote: “On the basis of information contained in this report, I conclude that the filer is in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.”
Two more officials from the independent Office of Government Ethics would review the disclosure before certifying it on March 11 and making it available for public inspection, according to the filing.
In November, McMaster sold 1,000 shares of Tesla stock in order to avoid a conflict of interest, according to a certificate of divestiture provided by the Office of Government Ethics.
And in a bid to “avoid any actual or apparent conflict of interest,” McMaster in April 2025 also agreed to resign from his position with the airplane manufacturer and defense contractor Boeing.
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