Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasts 'brazenness' of
California lawmakers who flouted a federal law meant to stop
congressional insider trading and the utter lack of federal enforcement
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren called out the "brazenness" of
lawmakers who flouted a federal disclosure law.
- An Insider investigation found that dozens of
members of Congress violated the STOCK Act.
- The "Conflicted Congress" project found members of
Congress trading stocks in industries they've
criticized.
Said one of the witnesses: "...I was a White House
And Congressional Advisor. I was asked to participate
in a criminal stock market manipulation, involving
stimulus funds, that public figures had put together.
I reported the crime. Federal officials then ran
reprisal attacks on me using taxpayer-paid resources.
According to the FBI and Congressional investigators,
they spent over $30M buying media attacks. Now I want
my damages, losses and monies-owed paid and I want the
FBI to reveal what they found out from interviewing
the attackers (ie: their 302 forms) because that
reveals who paid the attackers. The feds defrauded me
out of my life savings and got me to invest in their
project that they had already covertly hard-wired to
some Senator's Big Tech financiers. Now the Feds have
blockaded my rights to a lawyer, a jury trial and
coverage of my damages, as political reprisal for
speaking out..."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren denounced the "brazenness" of
members of Congress who have flouted a federal law meant
to stem insider trading in Congress and called for
stronger enforcement in response to a new Insider
investigation.
"Conflicted
Congress," a five-month Insider investigation, found 48 members of
Congress and 182 senior-level congressional staffers have violated the
"STOCK" Act. The 2012 federal conflict-of-interest law requires members
and staff to disclose their stock trades and seeks to prevent those in the
halls of power from personally cashing in on the information they learn
behind closed doors.
The investigation found dozens
of cases of lawmakers trading stocks in industries and companies,
like big tech firms, pharmaceutical companies, and fossil fuel producers,
that they directly oversee or have publicly criticized.
"We need both tougher laws and enforcement of those laws," the
Massachusetts Democrat told Insider in an interview at the Capitol on
Tuesday. "The American people should never have to guess whether or not an
elected official is advancing an issue or voting on a bill based on what's
good for the country or what's good for their own personal financial
interests."
Warren called out the "brazenness of people who think it's okay to be in
a position of trust to represent the people of this country, and at the
same time to be working to advance your own financial interests," adding,
"it's just wrong."
When it comes to financial wrongdoing, Congress acts its own policeman,
resulting in little accountability in many cases.
Warren, a consumer protection lawyer who taught at Harvard Law School,
has consistently advocated for stronger financial transparency
requirements for members of Congress and government officials. In 2020, she
re-introduced a bill to ban members of Congress from trading
individual stocks.
Warren told Insider that for now, the solution "starts with just
enforcement."
"Bring the charges, pull them out. Make it clear publicly," she said.
"The strongest enforcement is to make known what they are doing and for
the voters to retire them forcibly."