An Investigative report conducted by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) exposed thousands of senior federal officials for owning or trading stocks.
The US Department of Labor (DOL) claims that the federal government is the country’s largest employer. Thus, it “must model effective employment policies and practices.”
However, in the recent investigative report released by WSJ, it found thousands of executive branch officials trading or owning stocks which are said to be against the employment policies and practices as the newspaper discovered that the “investments purchased were impacted by the decisions made by the divisions or departments they worked in, leading to questions of whether the trades were questionable in nature.”
It also added that more than 60 officials across several agencies which include the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department “reported trading stock in companies shortly before their departments announced enforcement actions, such as charges and settlements, against those companies,” the Journal said.
In addition to that, more than 200 senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly one in three reported having “investments in companies that were lobbying the agency,” the Wall Street Journal added.
Things at the Defense Department were also not any better after the WSJ found “officials collectively reported owning between $1.2 and $3.4 million of stock in aerospace and defense companies, on average.”
According to WSJ, more than 2,600 bureaucrats across a wide range of federal agencies have disclosed their stock investments.
“At the same time they were buying or selling the assets, the same companies lobbied the agencies for policies favorable to their organizations. Potential conflicts of interest involved one in five senior employees across 50 agencies,” the RightWing reported as per WSJ.
Improper trading has long been a problem in the United States with many lawmakers in the Congress have been facing heavy criticisms in recent years.
According to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, “members and employees of Congress are prohibited from using knowledge obtained through their official positions to influence what stock they own and trade.”
The bill from House Democrats aims to address the controversies revolving around this matter, ensuring that senior officials, employees and their families would be forbidden from taking part in active investing.
