SUSPICIOUS TIMING: Pelosi Sold $3 Million of Google Stock Weeks Before Justice Department Launched Antitrust Probe

Former House Speaker and Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi conveniently sold around $3 million in shares of Google just before the Biden DOJ under Merrick Garland launched an antitrust investigation into the company.

Via Chuck Ross at the Washington Free Beacon:

“Paul Pelosi sold 30,000 shares of Google from Dec. 20 to Dec. 28, according to a financial disclosure filing the former House speaker submitted to the House Ethics Committee. The Pelosis made an undisclosed profit from the investments, according to the filing.

The trade proved timely. On Monday, the Justice Department and attorneys general from eight states—including California—sued Google over its monopoly on the digital ad market. The lawsuit could force Google to break up its online ad business, which generated nearly $55 billion in revenue for the company in the most recent quarter. Google’s stock has dropped around 6 percent since the Justice Department announced the lawsuit.

The trades are the latest in a string of questionable transactions for Paul and Nancy.

They saved roughly $600,000 in June by selling shares of microchip maker Nvidia weeks before the U.S. government placed restrictions on the company’s business in China and Russia. The Pelosis have seen their fortune grow $140 million since 2008, thanks largely to Paul Pelosi’s stock trades, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.”

This is pretty suspicious and reeks of corruption and inside knowledge. In the private sector trading on inside knowledge is illegal but for high ranking members of Congress it appears to be par for the course.

Pelosi and her pals seemingly corrupt stock market trades have sparked calls for stricter regulations on members of Congress to prevent them from cashing in on their positions of power and inside knowledge of future regulations, investigations and federal grants or investments.

In fact Missouri Senator Josh Hawley just introduced the aptly names PELOSI act to regulate stock trading by members of both the House and Senate:

As Pelosi and other members of Congress are rightfully criticized and questioned about their seemingly flawless ability to execute successful stock trades, Hawley recently revived an effort to enact strict controls over the investments made by members of Congress.

While he didn’t mention Pelosi specifically, it’s clear by the name of his cleverly worded proposal, the “Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act,” that the former Democratic speaker inspired it.

Hawley announced the new bill on Tuesday morning via Twitter and took a not-so-subtle shot at Paul Pelosi, the former speaker’s husband, over his whirlwind of profitable stock and options trades while his wife served as a top congressional leader.

“Members of Congress and their spouses shouldn’t be using their position to get rich on the stock market – today I’m introducing legislation to BAN stock trading & ownership by members of Congress. I call it the PELOSI Act,” Hawley wrote.

“For too long, politicians in Washington have taken advantage of the economic system they write the rules for, turning profits for themselves at the expense of the American people,” a statement from Hawley read.

“As members of Congress, both Senators and Representatives are tasked with providing oversight of the same companies they invest in, yet they continually buy and sell stocks, outperforming the market time and again.”

“While Wall Street and Big Tech work hand-in-hand with elected officials to enrich each other, hardworking Americans pay the price. The solution is clear: we must immediately and permanently ban all members of Congress from trading stocks,” the statement added

While this is a great piece of legislation and sorely needed I remain skeptical that a majority of the House and Senate will vote to eliminate any privilege that puts money directly into their own pockets.

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