More shady stock dealings on the Hill…
Back in 2022, conservative watchdog group the American Accountability Foundation filed a complaint against ranking Oversight Committee Dem Rep. Jamie Raskin and his wife for a $1.5 million dollar stock payday that may have violated the Ethics in Government Act.
The complaint hits Raskin for failing to properly disclose his wife’s stock holdings.
According to Fox Business, the complaint was renewed late last week by the Center for Renewing America and it highlighted “possible violations of federal financial disclosure laws by Raskin, who waited too long to report stock shares that his wife, Sarah Bloom Raskin, received for her work at a Colorado-based financial technology company. “
“It is imperative that Members disclose assets that they or their families have in compliance with the law so that the public can assess what may be motivating a Member to take certain positions or actions,” the letter from Center for Renewing America President Russ Vought states.
Vought, a former White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director under Donald Trump, accused Raskin of violating the Ethics in Government Act by neglecting to report his wife’s earned income in his 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 financial disclosures — including a $1.5 million payout his wife received after she sold 195,936 shares of Reserve Trust.
“This failure is a clear violation of Raskin’s reporting duties and also raises serious questions about further potential violations,” Vought said in a letter. “Since Raskin did not see fit to disclose Reserve Trust as a source of income in 2017, it is unclear if he also failed to do so for subsequent years. It is possible that Reserve Trust compensated Mrs. Raskin with further shares for services rendered in subsequent years. Given Raskin’s approach to disclosure, the public would never know.”
The Center for Renewing America is requesting that the Office of Congressional Ethics investigate whether Raskin “engaged in any actions to benefit his wife’s clients, and specifically Reserve Trust, during the time period for which he did not disclose this asset.”
“The above demonstrates that Representative Raskin has likely violated his disclosure obligations and creates serious clouds around Raskin’s honesty and ability to represent the best interests of his constituents,” the letter concludes. “Accordingly, the Center for Renewing America respectfully requests that OCE open an investigation into this matter.”
Will Raskin face any disciplinary action? Almost certainly not.
