Democrat Congresswoman Didn’t Report Millions in Stock Sales

Suzan DelBene, Democrat congresswoman of Washington, did not report in due time millions of dollars she made by stock sales, which stands in violation of federal law. However, she is not likely to face any real consequences for the violation.

The Western Journal reported on Wednesday (June 28, 2023) that Rep. Suzan DelBene did not report her $5.5 million made in stock sales long after the deadline allotted under federal law. DelBene and her husband made the money by selling their Microsoft stocks between August 2022 and March 2023. While federal law required them to disclose the sales no later than 45 days after the transactions, DelBene reported them on June 14, 2023.

As the story reported:

The March 1 transaction was reported 105 days after it was made, the August 2022 transaction 288 days after it was made.

DelBene is a prominent Democrat who currently serves as the chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

Earlier this year, Business Insider published a list of Democrat and Republican lawmakers who violated the federal Stock Act, a number of them citing clerical errors and inattentive accountants. However, none of them has really been held accountable. The most they face in case of such a violation is a small fine of $200, which too is often waived by the House or Senate.

A related but more serious offense is using one’s political position and knowledge gained by it to profit in the stock trade. Democrat Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, have been accused of such corruption multiple times. In January this year, Senator Josh Hawley, Republican from Missouri, introduced the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act to ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks on which the lawmakers have privileged information.

In April, Democrat senators led by Jeff Merkley from Oregon came up with their own legislation against stock trading by members of Congress and their immediate families. Nancy Pelosi has previously opposed such measures arguing that Congress members should be able to participate in such trading in a free-market economy.

Outside the government, using inside information to profit from stocks is considered a serious violation of the law. Recently a former Pfizer employee, Amit Dagar, along with a business partner, was arrested and charged with securities fraud for using their research data while working at Pfizer to participate in an insider trading scheme. The scheme made them over $350,000 in profits. Now they face multiple counts of securities fraud, each carrying a maximum of 5 years in prison.