71 Members of Congress are Currently in Violation of Insider Trading Laws

Business Insider, along with several other media outlets, reported on Monday that they’ve identified at least 71 members of Congress who have failed to properly report their financial dealings on Wall Street.

The bipartisan group of legislators was found to be in violation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. Congress passed the law to combat insider trading and conflicts of interest, forcing lawmakers to become more transparent in regard to their financial dealings. 

Under the STOCK Act, members of Congress are required to disclose trades worth more than $1,000 that they, their spouses, or their dependent children have made within 30 to 45 days of the transactions. It is now being reported that 71 members of Congress have failed to properly report their trades, in violation of the Act.

According to Business Insider, the legislators that have been found in violation of the law “offer excuses including ignorance of the law, clerical errors, and mistakes by an accountant.” The stock deals in question range in value from the five-figure range to millions of dollars.

Below is a list of all the lawmakers who’ve recently violated the STOCK Act in one way or another:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama

Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas

Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat from Colorado

Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island

Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida

Sen. Tom Carper, a Democrat from Delaware

Sen. Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming

Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan

Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona

Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey

Rep. Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Diana Harshbarger, a Republican from Tennessee

Rep. Susie Lee, a Democrat of Nevada

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, a Republican from North Carolina

Rep. Katherine Clark, a Democrat from Massachusetts

Rep. Blake Moore, a Republican from Utah

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland

Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican from Alabama

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida

Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina

Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey

Rep. Kevin Hern, a Republican from Oklahoma

Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida

Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat from Illinois

Rep. Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York

Rep. Lori Trahan, a Democrat from Massachusetts

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat from Pennsylvania

Rep. John Rutherford, a Republican from Florida

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey

Rep. Mark Green, a Republican from Tennessee

Rep. David Trone, a Democrat from Maryland

Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican from Pennsylvania

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, a Democrat from Texas

Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat of Florida

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican from Florida

Rep. Bill Pascrell, a Democrat of New Jersey

Rep. August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat from New York

Rep. Cheri Bustos, a Democrat from Illinois

Rep. Steve Chabot, a Republican from Ohio

Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana

Rep. Rick Allen, a Republican from Georgia

Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington

Rep. Kurt Schrader, a Democrat from Oregon

Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from Pennsylvania

Rep. Chris Jacobs, a Republican from New York

Rep. Bobby Scott, a Democrat from Virginia

Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican from Georgia

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat from Colorado

Rep. Dwight Evans, a Democrat from Pennsylvania

Rep. Tom Suozzi, a Democrat from New York

Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio

Rep. Lance Gooden, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican from Tennessee

Rep. Michael Burgess, a Republican from Texas

Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democrat from Iowa

Del. Michael San Nicolas, a Democrat from Guam

Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont

Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana

Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican from California

Rep. Rob Wittman, a Republican from Virginia

Rep. Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat from California

Rep. Jim Hagedorn, a Republican from Minnesota

Rep. Roger Williams, a Republican from Texas

 

In most cases, the lawmakers either reported their transactions late or failed to report them altogether. The apparent lack of urgency when it comes to complying with the STOCK Act could be in part due to the lax penalties for violation, as the fines have been described as “nominal.” For such a serious matter, the punishment is laughably insignificant. Lawmakers who violate the STOCK Act face a fine of $200, a price that most inside traders are likely willing to pay.

When Obama first signed the STOCK Act into law, it was celebrated by a bipartisan cadre of lawmakers and was generally seen by the public as a win. Once Obama and company had reaped the praise, it didn’t take long for him to sign a bill reversing the more productive portions of the bill, leading many to believe the STOCK Act was always meant to become more of a vestigial placation rather than an effective law.

Surprisingly, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not make the list despite her name being synonymous with insider trading, her exploits are storied even among the liberal media. Her absence from the list is presumably because reported her transactions on time and was actually in compliance, but the family is not quite off the hook.

Back in March, Pelosi’s husband Paul purchased 2,500 shares of Tesla stock as the Democrats were mobilizing their green energy spending and electric vehicle push. In June of this year, Paul Pelosi bought millions of dollars worth of Nvidia stock ahead of the chip-manufacturing bill vote.