All articles tagged with #stock act
Trump filed an OGE Form 278-T showing 3,642 stock trades in Q1, with many large transactions that raise questions about the influence of policy on portfolios or vice versa. While no laws were broken, the volume and timing highlight concerns about conflicts of interest, the effectiveness of the STOCK Act, and a growing bipartisan push to ban elected officials from buying or selling individual stocks to protect market trust.
Despite the STOCK Act's intention to curb insider trading by Congress members, lawmakers continue to outperform the market, inspiring new investment products that mimic their trades. This has led to a profitable industry based on tracking congressional stock activity, highlighting flaws in the law and prompting calls for stricter reforms to restore public trust.
Democratic Congresswoman Lois Frankel sold First Republic Bank stock before its collapse and bought JPMorgan stock just before JPMorgan purchased First Republic, according to a financial disclosure report. Frankel's account is managed independently by a money manager who buys and sells stocks at his discretion. Members of Congress are prohibited from knowingly trading, buying, or selling stocks based on material information obtained in their official capacity. Compliance with the law has been sporadic given the lack of enforcement mechanisms. There have been efforts to strengthen the law, including the reintroduction of the TRUST in Congress Act, which would ban members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks.