Congressional Insider Trading

Subject: Congressional Insider Trading Fri Jan 21, 2022 6:13 pm

One day after Trump said Nancy Pelosi should be banned from stock trading, she said she’s open to it
Nicole Goodkind, Fortune
Fri, January 21, 2022, 11:59 AM

Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she would consider proposals to ban stock trading by members of Congress, reversing the stance she took on the issue in December.

The remarks also happened to come one day after former President Donald Trump advocated a ban on stock trading—for Pelosi.

"It's not right. It's not appropriate," Trump told far-right news outlet Breitbart on Wednesday. "She should not be allowed to do that with the stocks…It's not fair to the rest of this country," he said.

Speaker Pelosi does not trade stocks herself, but many aspiring traders watch and copy the investments of her husband, Paul Pelosi, when they’re made public via current disclosure rules. There are even TikTok videos explaining how to invest like the Pelosis.

At the speaker's weekly press conference with reporters on Thursday, Pelosi acknowledged she was open to changing the rules, although she stressed it wasn't necessary because she trusted her colleagues and there are already disclosure laws in place. "I just don't buy into it, but if members want to do that I'm okay with that," Pelosi said. "I have great confidence in the integrity of my members."

Pelosi has asked the House Administration Committee to review the STOCK Act, a law that requires lawmakers to report all trades and file reports within 45 days. She also said she is open to increased fines for members who don’t meet those deadlines. The committee, she said, would review all trading-related bills, some of which would ban congresspeople and close family members from trading stocks.

Pelosi did not comment on whether she thought representatives' family members should be banned. "I think there are two [proposals]," she said. "Each has like 14 members signing it so far. Maybe more will come, but that's what we have seen."

If family members were banned from trading, the speaker's husband would be out of a job. Trump also recently called out Paul Pelosi for his frequent trades.

Others have been closely watching Senate disclosures. "Investors perceive that senators may have insider information," Dinesh Hasija, an assistant professor of strategic management at Augusta University in Georgia, told NPR. "And we see abnormal positive returns when there's a disclosure by a senator."

In recent weeks, a bipartisan coalition of representatives has pushed to ban stock trading on an individual level for lawmakers and their close family members. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has said that he backs the idea.

Recent polling by Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, found that 67% of voters support a ban on trading in Congress.

A recent investigation by Insider found that dozens of lawmakers and 200 senior congressional staffers had not complied with stock disclosure laws. The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit promoting ethics in campaigns and Congress, has found multiple instances of Congress members trading in sectors that they receive advanced or classified information in.

If there are concerns that a member is engaged in insider trading, Pelosi said, "that's a Justice Department issue."

Pelosi also suggested that she would be on board to tighten regulations around Supreme Court justices and stock trading. Justices currently have no disclosure rules, and their decisions impact "every subject you can name," she said.

"I don't think the court should be let off the hook," Pelosi said Thursday, adding that any legislation around congressional trading should include the Supreme Court.

Subject: Re: Congressional Insider Trading Sat Jan 22, 2022 1:59 am

If Pelosi says she's "okay" with house members doing a thing of which she doesn't approve you can bet your sweet bippy she already knows it's dead in the water, probably because she drowned it herself.

Pelosi is what it would look like if endemic political corruption had years of plastic surgery, hair dye, and clownish makeup then was taught to walk, say things such as: "we're capitalists", and use insider trading to get filthy rich.

Regular Member Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29

1-22-2022

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has opposed new legislation banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks, signaled Thursday she is open to advancing it if it has the support of her caucus.

"I just don't buy into it, but if members want to do that I'm OK with that," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference.

She has asked the House Administration Committee to review the STOCK Act, the law requiring members regularly report trades and file reports within 45 days, and said she is open to increasing fines for lawmakers who fail to comply with the deadlines. She added the committee is reviewing all the bills proposed on new reforms.

Pelosi said if there are concerns that a member is engaged in insider trading "that's a Justice Department issue." Existing laws give prosecutors
the ability to charge lawmakers with insider trading.

In recent weeks there's been a renewed push by members in both parties to ban lawmakers from making individual stock picks. Several bills have been proposed in the House and Senate.
Some would cover just members of Congress, others would apply the ban to spouses and family members.

Pelosi doesn't trade stocks, but her husband Paul Pelosi does, and his regular reports filed under the current rules are closely followed by many investors, who say his record making profitable decisions is worth copying. A recent NPR story notes some have set up notifications that younger investors on TikTok follow when his reports are made public.

Recently, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said he backs the idea and is looking at the details. Republicans on Capitol Hill are split on the issue. Some say the current system of public disclosure is adequate, and others say public opinion of Congress is so low that any measure that removes any appearance of a conflict makes sense.

Pelosi wants to extend disclosure rules to Supreme Court.
Pelosi noted that while the legislative branch has rules for disclosing investment transactions, the justices on the U.S. Supreme court do not.

She said decisions made at the high court impact "every subject you can name."

"I don't think the court should be let off the hook," the speaker said. She pointed to recent comments
by Chief Justice John Roberts alluding to reports about judges avoiding any appearances of conflicts
of interest.

Pelosi made it clear any new legislation would include provisions adding new rules for the Supreme Court. "When we go forward with anything let's take the Supreme Court with us to have disclosure," she said.

The House did pass a bipartisan bill in December that added disclosure rules for federal judges, but the Senate has not taken up the measure.

Subject: Re: Congressional Insider Trading Sat Jan 22, 2022 3:29 am

The fine for not declaring trades timely is only $200. Washington is more corrupt than Chicago.

Very long article, but a must read one:

https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-stock-act-violations-penalties-consequences-2021-12

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