Busted: Three members of Congress violate federal law

As a renewed battle to ban congressional stock trading rages on, three more members of Congress violated financial disclosure law, according to a Raw Story review of congressional financial records.

Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Greg Landsman (D-OH), along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), all filed late financial disclosures — some more than a year-and-a-half late — joining more than 50 members of Congress who have violated a decade-old federal financial disclosure and conflicts-of-interest law.

Moskowitz violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act for the second time this month by filing another late financial disclosure for 83 stock transactions, many dating back to July 2023, nearly a year past a federally mandated deadline.

Members of Congress must publicly report within 45 days most purchases, sales and exchanges of stocks, bonds, commodity futures, securities and cryptocurrencies made by themselves, their spouses or dependent children as part of the Obama-era law intended to stop insider trading, curb conflicts-of-interest and enhance transparency.

ALSO READ: A mysterious group of Republicans is secretly rewriting the Constitution

The trades are valued between $224,083 and $1.585 million total, including investments in a wide variety of companies such as Google parent company Alphabet, tech giant Apple, oil and gas corporation Exxon Mobil, aerospace and defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin, energy company NextEra Energy and pharmaceutical company Pfizer. (Lawmakers are only required by law to disclose the values of their transactions in broad ranges.)

Lale M. Morrison, chief of staff for Moskowitz, told Raw Story in an emailed statement, that a law firm conducts monthly monitoring of Moskowitz’s investment accounts and prepares periodic transaction reports, the formal name of a congressional financial disclosure for assets that the STOCK Act mandates must be reported within 45 days of a transaction.

“While preparing the annual financial disclosure report for calendar year 2023, the law firm noticed they had lost access to one of the Morgan Stanley accounts. It appears the issue was the result of a back-end technical error,” Morrison said. “Upon access being restored, the law firm noticed reportable transactions in the account and immediately added the relevant transactions to the congressman’s annual financial disclosure report for calendar year 2023 and prepared a late [periodic transaction report], which was filed on August 21, 2024."

Moskowitz did not provide “any input or direction” on the investments, and an “independent financial manager” made the trades, Morrison said. Even if they use an outside financial manager, members of Congress are personally responsible for adhering to the provisions of the STOCK Act.

A note on the financial disclosure reiterated that an “administrative error” occurred and “the report preparer did not have viewing access to this account online and did not receive transaction notifications during the covered period.”

“Since this issue was discovered, the law firm has implemented additional safeguards to ensure all future transactions are timely and properly reported,” Morrison said.

As for Landsman, he reported 91 late stock trades from his spouse and a joint trust, some going back to January 2023.

The investments are valued between $203,091 and $1.645 million total. Companies invested in include e-commerce giant Amazon, oil and natural gas company Diamondback Energy, cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and artificial intelligence company Nvidia, to name a few.

“As soon as Greg learned of the transactions, he immediately reported them,” said Alexa Helwig, communications director for Landsman.

Whitehouse was four days late reporting four stock sales from himself and his spouse, including two sales of stock in multinational pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson, valued between $15,001 and $50,000 each. He also reported the sale of stock in food manufacturer Conagra Brands and fast food giant McDonalds, each valued between $1,001 and $15,000.

“We regret that the filing was delayed by a few days as a result of a communications gap between consultants,” Meaghan McCabe, communications director for Whitehouse, told Raw Story. “The senator and his wife do not trade stocks, and their account manager acts independently without any input from the senator or his family.”

The standard fine for violating the STOCK Act is $200, but frequently the House Committee on Ethics and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics waive the fee.

“The office has not been contacted by Senate Ethics, nor has there been any late fee,” McCabe said.

Landsman and Whitehouse join Moskowitz on a list of more than 50 members of the 118th Congress who Raw Story found to have violated the STOCK Act, mostly with late financial disclosures.

Other lawmakers have reported stock trades that potentially conflict with their official responsibilities, such as lawmakers who trade defense contractor stock while sitting on a congressional committee with defense oversight responsibilities.

Numerous bills have been introduced in recent years to effectively ban stock trading for members of Congress or increase the penalties for violations.

None have yet gotten a floor vote, and during the past three years, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been one of the biggest obstacles to previous stock ban bills advancing.

The latest progress toward a congressional stock trading ban came last month when the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act advanced out of a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs markup with an eight to four vote, with Republican senators divided on how to proceed.

The ETHICS Act proposes an immediate ban on members of Congress buying stocks and would prohibit them from selling stocks 90 days after enactment. Members’ spouses and dependent children would be prohibited from trading stocks starting in March 2027, which is when the president and vice president would also be required to divest from covered investments such as securities, commodities, futures, options and trusts.

NOW READ: Republicans resurrect an old racist ruling to disqualify Kamala Harris