Ten years ago, Congress and the White House enacted a law to deter insider trading on Capitol Hill and increase public transparency, but controversies over Congressional stock trades persist and the requirement to provide prompt public disclosures is often ignored by lawmakers.
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, or STOCK Act, mandates that members of Congress, their immediate family and their senior staff disclose trades of anything over $1,000 within 45 days of the transaction. Although there are supposed to be consequences for doing so, there’s little transparency around whether the prescribed fines – typically $200 per infraction – are ever paid.
Although late filings are the most common STOCK Act infraction, multiple instances in recent years have given rise to allegations of outright insider trading, although no one has been charged.
The post Congress and Stocks: Notable Trades and an Ineffective Law originally appeared at U.S. News & World Report.