Balgarianovinite.com
Rep. Neal Dunn missed a required reporting deadline by more than a month. (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
A member of the House of Representatives has violated a federal law designed to defend against financial conflicts of interest and insider trading, OpenSecrets has learned.
Federal records indicate that Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) was more than a month late disclosing to Congress that his wife purchased up to $50,000 worth of stock in MicroStrategy Inc., a business intelligence and cryptocurrency firm that owns more than $40 billion worth of Bitcoin.
Dunn is the latest among dozens of federal lawmakers who’ve violated the disclosure requirements of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012, which in part requires members of Congress to submit signed certifications of any stock trade made by themselves, a spouse or dependent child — and do so within 45 days of a trade.
On Dec. 24, Dunn’s wife, Leah Dunn, purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of stock in MicroStrategy. (The company rebranded itself “Strategy” in February.) But Dunn did not disclose the trade until March 10, well after the federal deadline for doing so, a congressional filing indicates.
Leah Dunn’s investment in a company steeped in digital financial assets comes at a pivotal time for the cryptocurrency industry, with President Donald Trump having earlier this month taken steps to establish a federal “strategic Bitcoin reserve” — something for which MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor has advocated.
Matt Maley, a spokesman for Dunn’s congressional office, acknowledged the lawmaker’s improper stock trade disclosure and told OpenSecrets that the couple’s financial trades are “made by an independent broker without any input from either the congressman or Mrs. Dunn.”
When an attorney who assists Dunn with filing financial disclosures noticed that the MicroStrategy stock purchase had not been properly disclosed, Dunn filed a late disclosure, Maley said. Dunn then notified the House Ethics Committee and “took all necessary action to ensure the situation was resolved.
“Congressman Dunn takes ethical and financial concerns very seriously and plans to continue working with the Ethics Committee to ensure that all necessary reporting requirements on this transaction are fulfilled,” Maley said.
Maley declined to comment on whether Dunn has paid a perfunctory $200 fine for a late filing — something the STOCK Act calls for, but that the Ethics Committee has been known to waive.
As for Leah Dunn’s investment, she purchased MicroStrategy stock on a day it closed above $358 per share. This week, the stock has been trading below $270 per share.
A ban on congressional stock trading?
Dunn, like all members of Congress, will likely consider numerous pieces of legislation during the current congressional session that would affect the cryptocurrency industry — and other sectors in which they invest.
Federal law makes clear that individual members of Congress are responsible for complying with the STOCK Act, regardless of whether they employ financial advisers to execute trades on their behalf, said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, director of government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan government watchdog group.
“It’s galling that some members of Congress can’t even be bothered with the bare minimum requirements of this law,” Hedtler-Gaudette said. “If you use a money manager, you should damn sure be reading your money manager the riot act, and fire them and get a new one if they can’t comply with the law.”
Another government reform advocate recommended that members of Congress endorse legislation to ban federal lawmakers and their spouses from buying and selling individual stocks.
“Banning members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks is a common-sense reform that is long overdue,” said Lauren White, a spokesperson for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “The public should not have to question whether elected officials are acting in the best interests of their constituents or their own personal profit.”
Both Republicans and Democrats have introduced several such stock ban bills during the three most recent congressional sessions, with odd coalitions of far-right and far-left lawmakers emerging to support the measures they’ve deemed necessary to corral numerous STOCK Act violations and overt conflicts of interest.
For example, the Bipartisan Ban on Congressional Stock Ownership Act, introduced in 2023, counted then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — political enemies under most other circumstances — among its co-sponsors.
Dozens of former members of Congress have advocated for the passage of such legislation, and a bill championed by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) passed out of committee last session.
But neither the House nor the Senate passed this or any other such bill.
One of the most notable obstacles to passage has been former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose husband trades tens of millions of dollars in stocks and stock futures annually.
On his way out of the White House, then-President Joe Biden endorsed a congressional stock trade ban after a years-long silence on the matter.
Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist. He served as OpenSecrets’ editorial and communications director from 2009 to 2011.
Rep. Neal Dunn becomes latest lawmaker to violate STOCK Act 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2025-03-12 13:46:36 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law