U.S. lawmakers, who have long campaigned against stock trading in Congress, are among the nearly one in five senators who own or may own large amounts of Apple stock, and watchdog groups say the interest It warns that conflicts could derail major legislation aimed at reining in major corporations. Anti-competitive conduct by high-tech companies.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) famously called his Republican opponent David Perdue a “fraud” over his personal stock transactions during his 2020 Senate bid. , calls himself a champion of the prohibition movement. Congressional stock trading.
Georgia Democrats are co-sponsoring a bill that would ban the spouses and children of lawmakers from stock trading while in office and require them to place existing assets in blind trusts or sell them outright.
But Ossoff himself owned between $1 million and $5 million in Apple stock before establishing his own blind trust in early 2021, and is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for regulating the company. It is highly likely that he was still a shareholder during his tenure as a shareholder.
The issue has received renewed attention as advocates urge Congressional leaders to reintroduce the Open App Markets Act and the American Innovation Choice Online Act (AICOA). Two long-stalled bipartisan bills would impose new restrictions on how Apple and Google operate. Controversial app store.
Both bills were introduced out of committee in 2022, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer never brought them to the floor for a vote.
In both cases, Ossoff voted to advance the bill. But Georgia Democrats opposed it behind closed doors, raising concerns that the bill could negatively impact user security and data privacy, according to people familiar with the process that year.
Ossoff is well-known on The Hill as a user privacy advocate, and his positions also happen to align with Apple’s arguments against the bill.
“It was bad enough having to deal with a senator who regularly repeats Apple talking points, as if it wasn’t obvious that they were Apple talking points,” the source said. “But what’s worse is that he likely owned millions of dollars of Apple stock.”
Ossoff said he only voted after the bill’s supporters twisted his arm.
“Mr. Ossoff embodies why his bill is weak,” the official added. “His Apple stock is proof of that.”
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Ossoff declined to comment on the status of his Apple stock, citing blind faith, calling the criticism “ridiculous” given the public’s support for his reforms.
“As first reported by the New York Post, Sen. Ossoff has drafted significant legislation that would prohibit stock trading by members of Congress,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Sen. Ossoff is one of only six senators who have placed their stock in a qualified blind trust, which the Senate Ethics Committee calls the “most comprehensive approach” to “eliminate conflicts of interest.” It’s a person. ”
“When it comes to policy, Sen. Ossoff will ask tough questions of technology companies about privacy, security, and competition, as he has throughout his tenure,” the spokesperson added. “He will continue to thoroughly scrutinize all proposed legislation.”
The terms of Mr. Ossoff’s blind trust require the trustee to disclose whether Apple stock or other stock has been sold outright or if its value has fallen below $1,000. So far, no such information has surfaced. Selling the stocks would result in capital gains, meaning Mr. Ossoff would notice a significant change in his holdings when he filed his taxes.
In recent years, there have been growing calls for Congress to ban stock trading, following revelations of massive personal stock trading by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others. Proposals by Mr. Ossoff, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and others to impose more restrictions generated some buzz, but quickly died down after Congressional leaders rejected the demands.
Richard Painter, the White House’s chief ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, said Ossoff showed “really bad judgment” by not completely selling his Apple stock when he took office. , dismissed Ossoff’s proposal as ineffective.
“You can’t blindly believe in Apple stock and pretend you don’t own it,” Painter told the Post. “This blind trust business doesn’t work unless you actually sell the underlying assets. That’s why so few people set up blind trusts for the disposal of major assets. Whether to sell the assets or not. must be determined.”
Stock trading is widespread in Congress, with one report finding that nearly 20% of members had trades that were a conflict of interest with their committee duties. According to , as of 2021, 53% of members of Congress (223 members of the House of Representatives and 61 members of the Senate) owned stocks. Investigation by Campaign Legal Center.
Mr. Ossoff is one of the few senators to effectively relinquish control of his holdings while in office, even going so far as to transfer them to a blind trust managed by a third party.
Ossoff’s stock trading bill has garnered support from ethics watchdogs such as the Project on Government Oversight, the National Taxpayers Alliance, the Taxpayer Protection Alliance, FreedomWorks, and Issue One.
Still, not everyone is convinced that qualified blind trusts are effective.
“Regardless of what he said, until he is no longer the known beneficiary of this large investment, it is a conflict of interest,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project. “Ideally, people would sell their holdings before taking office, rather than relying on trusts. It would be even easier if the assets were highly liquid.”
Donald Sherman, chief counsel for the Washington watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, agreed, adding: Conflict of interest.
“The question being raised here is precisely why senators and congressmen should be prohibited from owning and trading individual stocks, and why should any use of blind trusts be truly blind?” Sherman said. he added.
Senate Ethics Committee’s own guidelines For qualified blind trusts, it notes that the initial holdings “are known to the grantor, and the potential conflict of interest continues until they are sold or reduced in value to less than $1,000.”
“Mr. Ossoff needs to be able to provide proper oversight and consider legislation on behalf of his constituents, not as a stock trade,” said Garrett Bentley, a Republican and former Senate judicial staffer. “When members have stock holdings like that, it looks like a very bad situation.”
If allowed to proceed as is, the pro-competition bill will cause major headaches for Apple. Apple is being sued by the Justice Department this month for allegedly using illegal tactics to secure its dominance with the iPhone.
As the Post reported, Apple has enlisted an army of lobbyists, part of whose role will be to lobby against reconsidering these bills.
Supporters were reportedly so concerned about the competition law that Apple Inc. President Tim Cook personally called on senators to oppose it in 2022, but any crackdown could hurt individual interests. They argue that the bill could be blocked by certain members of Congress.
The momentum of other bills, including a House-backed bill that could ban TikTok and the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, could further delay consideration.
Antitrust advocates say the problem is not limited to Mr. Ossoff. At least 14 U.S. senators currently own Apple stock, according to a review of public financial information. The newspaper has contacted both offices for comment.
Republicans who disclosed holdings in Apple stock include Kate Britt, Tommy Tuberville, John Boozman, Susan Collins, Markwayne Mullin, Tim Scott, Bill Hagerty, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. is included.
Representatives of Mr. Marin and Mr. Boozman each stated that the investments were managed by an independent third party and were made in accordance with disclosure requirements. Capito’s representatives said she and her husband have complied with all disclosure requirements.
On the Democratic side, Apple shareholders include Sen. Ossoff, Sen. John Hickenlooper, Sen. Thomas Carper, Sen. Jacky Rosen, Sen. Ron Wyden, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. There is. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, also owns the stock.
A White House spokesperson noted that despite his wealth, he co-sponsored both AICOA and the Open App Markets Act.
“The senator and his wife do not trade stocks, and the account manager acts independently without any input from the senator or his wife, pursuant to the terms of a formal agreement,” the spokesperson said. .
In addition to Ossoff, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) ) are known to hold assets in blind trusts. ), Joe Manchin (DW. Virginia).
