Members of the U.S. Congress have lately been active and have filed numerous stock trades, even those that are way past the legally determined deadline of 45 days, as Representative John James filed a record 143 trades that violate the STOCK Act.
Namely, in his filing on September 2, the Representative from Michigan filed his stock trades spanning from August 13 to November 10, with 143 trades filed up to July 18 representing an STOCK Act violation.
Having not filed any stock trades during his tenure, which started in 2023, the U.S. Congressman is potentially motivated by the advancing of the ETHICS Act in July. This act would encapsulate higher penalties on late filings, with 10% of the value of a filed asset or the politician’s monthly salary, whichever is greater, compared to the current $200 fine per late filing.
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How much would the U.S. Congressman need to pay in fines for his stock trades?
Under the potential new law, James would have to pay at least $119,300 for his late filings, with the maximum amount potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, the current law requires him to pay $28,600 in total for all his stock trades reported late, despite his trade stock trade volume exceeding $1,193,000, of which $1.01 million is in purchases and only $176,000 in sales.
A higher number of STOCK Act violations by the members of U.S. Congress since July
Representative James’ late filing of his stock trades represents the 12th individual case of STOCK Act violation by different U.S. politicians since July 24.
Ten violations by U.S. Representatives and two by U.S. Senators since the ETHICS Act’s advancement show that many politicians in the legislative branch of the U.S. government are worried.
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