U.S. politicians have been making headlines recently with well-timed and mistimed stock trades, often selling and purchasing stock in companies that they have insider information on or sitting on committees that could directly influence the performance of these companies.
One of these is Representative Jared Moskowitz, who, on August 6, disclosed a series of stock trades, one of which was the purchase of $15,000 worth of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) stock on July 1.
What makes this trade suspicious is that Moskowitz sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and could have knowledge of events that led to an 18% surge in LMT stock since then.
Picks for you
Moskowitz also breached the STOCK Act with his trades
Enacted in April 2012, the STOCK Act aims to increase transparency among members of Congress, the Senate, and other U.S. politicians, as it requires them to disclose their stock trades by 45 days after they occur.
However, Moskowitz is late on some of his filings. Among more than 60 trades, nine have been filed over six months late.
According to the STOCK Act, whether it is a simple oversight or not, Moskowitz is required to pay a mere $200 penalty per breached trade, with his previous trades reported on February 2 being suspicious as well.
Moskowitz is not the only U.S. politician breaching the STOCK Act
In his most recent filing on August 6, Representative David Joyce disclosed stock trades made over two years ago.
Notably, these 12 trades were made from July 12, 2022, to June 30, 2023, and present yet another breach of the STOCK Act of U.S. politicians.
What makes this situation even worse is that Joyce sits on the House Ethics Committee, which is directly tasked with enforcing the STOCK Act.
Buy stocks now with eToro – trusted and advanced investment platform
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
