A non-partisan ethics watchdog organization demanded another investigation into Democrat Rep. Susie Lee’s (D-NV) stock transactions on Thursday for allegedly failing to properly disclose up to $155,000 in stock trades after previously failing to report up to $3.3 million in transitions on time.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), asking them to start another investigation into Lee. FACT explained that Lee disclosed eight stock trades from January to September 2o21, valued at up to $155,000, on August 13.
The stock trades were disclosed ten to eighteen months late, and the companies she traded were subject to congressional legislation. Some of those stocks were Ally Financial Inc., Dollar Tree Inc., and Synchrony Financial.
As Breitbart News reported on August 18:
Lee and her husband traded eight stocks during 2021 — which her filing showed occurred between January and September 2021 — and notes their worth was up to $155,000. Some of those stocks were Ally Financial Inc., Dollar Tree Inc., and Synchrony Financial. Insider acknowledged that the disclosure report was filed on August 13 — the same day as Gottheimer’s — which was also months past the deadline.
The congresswoman’s office told Insider that her financial advisor “noted an inaccuracy in the list of trades” when preparing the annual disclosure report and filed a periodic transaction report once she realized it. The office claimed she does not make any trades herself and has a third-party money manager. They added that she’s been in contact with the House Committee on Ethics.
The congresswoman, like every other lawmaker, is required to submit a periodic transaction report with the clerk in the House of Representatives within 30 to 45 days of stock transactions over $1,000 made on behalf of themselves or their spouses under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. Lawmakers are also subject to a $200 fine for filing late.
The complaint explained it is “extremely important” for the laws to be “strictly enforced to determine whether a Member has used nonpublic information for profit or whether their personal investments influenced any official action” since members of Congress vote on bills that could affect the very same companies in which they hold equity.
FACT wrote in the complaint that the congresswoman’s office’s “response is irrelevant” because “It does not matter whether Lee or someone on her behalf makes the trade—she is responsible for following the law and her holdings can present a conflict of interest regardless of who executes the trades.”
Noting that the Nevada Democrat was claiming to be “in contact” with the House Committee on Ethics also raised questions about Lee paying a $200 fine because “a fine does not remedy the breach of the ethics rules for a Member consistently not following the law.”
“Lee has repeatedly failed to make disclosures as required by law—there are numerous other known instances where she disclosed stock transactions months or years late,” the complaint also noted.
Breitbart News wrote that Lee received a similar ethics complaint in October 2021 after failing to timely disclose in a timely manner more than 200 stock transactions valued up to $3.3 million. She disclosed the transitions late across multiple filings. In September 2021, Breitbart reported:
Lee, a member in a battleground district, did not correctly disclose over 200 of her personal stock trades since early last year, according to Business Insider who reviewed her congressional records. The transactions are estimated to be worth as little as $267,000 with a maximum of $3.3 million.
The report noted that the congresswoman and her husband — in seven filings between February and May of last year — did not disclose trades where they either bought or sold stocks in companies such as Planet Fitness Inc., Wayfair Inc., Marriott International, Carnival Corp., Williams-Sonoma Inc., and US Foods Holding Corp.
FACT’s Executive Director, Kendra Arnold, slammed the congresswoman in a statement:
There is no excuse for violating this law even one time, but this is an egregious case. This was not an inadvertent error or omission, but rather Rep. Lee’s knowledge of the law and her numerous and repeated failure to comply with it demonstrates knowing and willful violations. At this point she is clearly disregarding an important law that is crucial for identifying conflicts of interest,” said Kendra Arnold, Executive Director of FACT.
The STOCK Act was a bipartisan bill that banned insider trading by members of Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 4, 2012. The legislation received overwhelming support from both parties.
In 2011, Breitbart News senior contributor and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer rocked official Washington with his investigative revelations of insider trading by members of Congress. Left-leaning Slate hailed Schweizer’s blockbuster book on the topic, Throw Them All Out, as “the book that started the STOCK Act stampede.”
One of the leading figures featured in Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out was then-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus (R-AL), who announced he would not seek reelection after the book’s reporting.
Indeed, Bachus was the only elected official the late Andrew Breitbart ever called on to resign. CBS’s 60 Minutes did an investigative report on Schweizer’s revelations that won them the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based journalism.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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