Nancy Pelosi's husband uses huge stock trade in contribution to her alma mater

Paul Pelosi, the husband of former House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), sold off between $500,000 and $1 million worth of Apple stock, totaling 2,900 shares — and used the transaction to make a contribution to her alma mater, Trinity College, according to a new congressional financial filing reviewed by Raw Story.

The filing, which said the transaction took place on May 8, did not clarify whether Paul Pelosi sold the shares and donated the money to Trinity College in Washington, D.C., or gave the shares to Trinity College — now known as Trinity Washington University — directly.

There is no evidence that the Pelosis benefited materially from the trade.

However, this comes amid an intense debate over whether to pass new rules prohibiting members of Congress and their immediate families from buying and selling individual shares of stock — something that gives them unique opportunities to illegally trade off nonpublic business information, as they are in the position of regulating many publicly traded companies. Members are already required under the STOCK Act to disclose their trades publicly, but dozens of members in both parties ignore even this rule.

In 2023 alone, Raw Story has identified more than a dozen lawmakers who've violated the STOCK Act's disclosure requirement.

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Pelosi, who was speaker of the House last year, and whose family has millions in stock holdings, initially resisted calls to prohibit the practice, saying that members "should be able to participate" in the "free-market" economy. She later changed her position and backed a bill to ban congressional stock trading — but the bill died after running out of time for a vote, and some skeptical observers have argued Pelosi deliberately ran out the clock to prevent action on it.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said on the campaign trail last year that he would pass a congressional stock trading ban himself if given a GOP majority. As of now, a bipartisan coalition is pressuring him to act, but there are few signs of concrete action.