Major Law Violations Happening in Congress

0

A deep dive into congressional members’ business endeavors discovered at least 77 members have failed to report their financial trades as mandated by the STOCK Act, which aimed to put an end to insider trading within Congress.

The law was passed over ten years ago to combat conflict of interest among its members, while also forcing lawmakers into full transparency when it comes to their personal finances.

Report shows 77 members of Congress involved in insider trading

It essentially requires any member of Congress to disclose every stock of themselves or a family member promptly and publicly, and despite it being in effect for a decade, it’s still frowned upon by lawmakers.

This is reflected in the fact that a sizeable amount of lawmakers refuse to fully comply with the law, often presenting ridiculous excuses such as clerical errors, accountant mistakes, and even claiming they weren’t aware of the law.

This phenomenon has been dubbed the “Conflicted Congress” by Insider, a news publication that went into full detail on the widespread nature of the occurrence in a project that was published this month.

However, no crime goes unpunished. Lawmakers who violate the STOCK Act are fined no less than $200; although the majority of them are waived by the House or Senate ethics officials.

Proper punitive measures are required

The idea that insider trading worth millions of dollars is commonly punished with a $200 fine is ridiculous; it only gets worse if you consider not a single lawmaker has been banned for this blatant violation of the law.

Thankfully, the inclusion of a ban for those involved in insider trading is already being debated at Capitol Hill, with the only obstacle being Democrats, who are in the majority until January and actively obstructing the consensus bill.

With this in mind, it’s becoming increasingly likely that the bill won’t be coming to a vote any time in the near future; those violating the STOCK Act will continue doing so at the same pace, without any repercussions.

A full list of all congressional members in violation of the law can be found online; although it remains unclear whether some of the lawmakers are actively involved in insider trading or were simply late on reporting their trades.

Some of the more notable perpetrators are Catherine Clark and Alan Lowenthal, from Massachusetts and California respectively, both of which were several months late disclosing their family members’ investments worth over $200k.

The latter violated the STOCK Act once again three months later in June.

He was almost half a year late on his stock and corporate bond trades, with the lack of proper penalty allowing him to repeat it in October when he refused to disclose the sale of Citigroup Inc. on time.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR