Freshman Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), heir to the Levi Strauss fortune and one of Congress’ wealthiest members, has sold tens of millions of dollars worth of personal stocks and bonds, a new federal financial disclosure indicates.
The massive sell-off appears to position Goldman to finally make good on a delayed campaign promise: to create a congressionally approved “qualified blind trust” for his copious assets and shield himself from financial conflicts of interest, be they real or perceived.
Goldman’s office on Monday confirmed to Raw Story that the stock and bond sales are part of the process of entering into a blind trust, which will be finalized “imminently”. Goldman’s office declined further comment.
Under such a “blind trust” arrangement — rare among federal lawmakers — an independent body would formally control the administration of Goldman’s private business dealings, buying and selling investments as it sees fit, without the congressman’s knowledge or input.
Together, Goldman’s stock and bond sales — most executed during mid-July, per his disclosure — are worth up to $37.1 million. The actual value is likely somewhat less than that, as Goldman disclosed the values of his individual sales in broad ranges, as federal law allows.
Among Goldman’s more notable stock sales:
- Tobacco company British American Tobacco Industries, up to $100,000
- Tobacco company Altria, up to $30,000
- Defense contractor Lockheed Martin, up to $50,000
- Defense contractor BAE Systems, up to $15,000
- COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna, up to $100,000
- Power company Dominion Energy, up to $100,000
Goldman first captured widespread national attention as a Democratic prosecutor during then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.
As a congressional candidate last year, Goldman, whose New York City-based 10th District includes Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, pledged to form a “blind trust” as he ran on an anti-corruption, pro-democracy platform.
“The fact of the matter is I have spent my entire career in public service, taking down gun traffickers, fighting against corrupt individuals, being a strong advocate for anti-corruption, and then obviously being in the trenches protecting and defending our democracy,” Goldman said during an August debate. “So whatever you want to reference, I was in a blind trust with all my money when I was a prosecutor. I will put my money in a blind trust as a congressperson.”
RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Anti-corruption’ Rep. Dan Goldman made hundreds of stock trades after saying he'd create a ‘blind trust’
But during the first several months of Goldman’s congressional tenure, Raw Story chronicled how Goldman continued to buy and sell individual stocks at a frenetic pace through an unnamed investment adviser.
His hundreds of trades placed him among Congress’ most active traders among lawmakers, and Goldman’s office declined to explain why the congressman hasn’t simply abstained from trading while the often protracted process of forming a “qualified blind trust” played out.
Some of the trades involved companies with big business before Congress, including U.S. House committees on which Goldman sits: Homeland Security, Oversight and Accountability and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
“When elected officials are trading stocks at a time when they’re supposed to be overseeing companies, we need to make sure that the public has the faith and confidence that elected officials are doing the bidding of the public interest and not trying to line their pockets and do what’s in their private interest,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonpartisan government reform organization, said at the time.
Stock-trade ban?
News organizations including the New York Times, Insider, NPR and Sludge have documented rampant financial conflicts of interest among dozens of members of Congress, such as those who bought and sold defense contractor stock while occupying positions on congressional armed services committees or otherwise voting on measures to send such companies billions of federal dollars.
The executive and judicial branches are riddled with similar financial conflict issues, too, as the Wall Street Journal and ProPublica have reported.
Dozens of members of Congress have failed to comply with the STOCK Act. During the 117th Congress from 2021 to 2022, at least 78 members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans alike — were found to have violated the STOCK Act's disclosure provisions, according to a tally maintained by Insider.
And during 2023 alone, Raw Story has so far identified 19 members of Congress who have violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act’s public disclosure provisions. The most recent stock trade scofflaw, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-N.C.), is twice tardy, having failed to disclose trades within 45 days of making them.
A plan to enact a congressional stock-trade ban failed during the 2021-2022 congressional session after Democratic House leaders, led by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), declined to bring any of several existing bills — including one floated by House leaders themselves — up for a vote. President Joe Biden continues to remain silent on the matter, much to the frustration of many government reform groups.
But this year, many Republicans and Democrats alike have renewed efforts to ban their colleagues from trading stocks.
The most recent legislation introduced is the Ban Stock Trading for Government Officials Act, which would prohibit members of Congress, the president, the vice president, senior executive branch officials, their spouses and children from trading stocks and would require greater transparency with financial disclosures, The Hill reported.
Another two-party bill, the Bipartisan Restoring Faith in Government Act was introduced in May and is co-sponsored in part by political rivals in Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Other materially similar bills include the Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks (ETHICS) Act, the TRUST in Congress Act and the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who does not personally trade stocks, has expressed openness to entertaining a stock trade ban of some sort, but has not formally endorsed a plan.
Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter previously told Raw Story that Goldman “supports legislation that would prohibit members of Congress from trading individual stocks.”
