CINCINNATI, OH | October 14, 2024 — The Cincinnati Enquirer is the latest outlet to ask serious questions about Greg Landsman's violation of the STOCK Act. 

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Landsman made over 90 stock transactions in 2023 and 2024 worth up to $1.6 million and failed to disclose these transactions, including purchases in Blackrock, Google, Exxon Mobil, and more.

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Orlando Sonza released the following statement regarding Landsman's violations: 

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"My opponent claimed in his first TV ad of this cycle that he wants to stop insider trading in Congress, and then he turns around and gets caught violating the very regulations designed to prevent insider trading. We need accountability in Washington, not corrupt politicians who believe they are above the letter of the law."

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You can read the full article below.

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'It was a mistake.' What to know about Rep. Greg Landsman stock trades

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Rep. Greg Landsman's recently disclosed stock trades have raised questions about when he knew about them and whether he violated ethics laws by not disclosing them earlier.

 

Landsman, in a statement, said it was a mistake and has promised "it won't happen again."

Landsman is in a reelection battle with Republican Orlando Sonza.

What happened?
Landsman in August filed a periodic transaction report showing stock transactions over the past year-and-a-half.

The problem? Congressional ethics rules require stock transactions of its members be revealed within 45 days.

Some of the stocks in Landsman's report were bought or sold as far back as the month he took office in January 2023, well out of the 45-day window.

Republicans, including the man who filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics, said he violated the law.

Landsman, a Democrat from Mount Washington, said he disclosed the trades as soon as he knew about them.

What stocks did Landsman trade?
Landsman's August transaction report showed 91 stock transactions in 2023 and 2024 worth a total of between $203,000 and $1.6 million. All of them were part of either a fund Landsman has with Rockefeller Capital Management or part of his wife Sarah Landsman's individual retirement account. Investments include stocks with tech companies Apple and Microsoft, investment company Blackrock, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, and oil company Exxon Mobil.

More than half the trades happened in 2023.

What does Landsman say?
Landsman, in a statement to The Enquirer, said he reported the transactions as soon as he knew about them. He said he doesn't directly do the stock trades.

"Once I learned of the trades, we immediately disclosed each as part of the annual financial disclosure process," Landsman said in the statement. "I don’t have anything to do with the stock trades so I didn’t know. But it was a mistake and I own my mistakes – and with the new system we put in place, it won’t happen again."

What do Republicans say?
Members of Congress need to follow their own rules, said Todd Zinser, the West Price Hill resident who filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics over Landsman's stock disclosure. Zinser, who for eight years worked as inspector general of the U.S. Department of Commerce after being nominated in 2007 by President George W. Bush, backs Landsman's opponent, Sonza, and has donated $650 to his campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records. Zinser resigned as inspector general in 2015 amid a congressional probe into his "alleged mismanagement and misconduct." Zinser told The Enquirer the probe was a "personal vendetta."

"I think to have a member of Congress not make disclosures that he’s required to make for practically his whole term … I do think that brings discredit upon the House to have a member disregard the requirements," Zinser told The Enquirer.

Knowing what investments members of Congress make is important in determining any conflicts, he said. Landsman has investments in oil and pharmaceutical companies, which "he has ardently opposed in his public policy positions," Zinser wrote in his Sept. 23 letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics.

"Public disclosure of these contradictions could possibly cost Mr. Landsman support for his reelection and therefore may have possibly influenced the timing of his delinquent reporting," Zinser wrote in the letter.

What does the law say?
Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, better known as the STOCK Act, in 2012 in response to increased allegations of insider trading among members of Congress. The STOCK Act made additional requirements to financial disclosures of Congress members, including a 45-day deadline to report stock transactions.

The Office of Congressional Ethics and the House Committee on Ethics both declined to comment.

What are the penalties?
The stakes, penalty-wise, are low and not likely to result in any action. Each violation of the STOCK Act carries a $200 fine. No member of Congress has ever had to pay it since no STOCK Act violation charges have ever been prosecuted, said Kedric Payne, vice president, general counsel, and senior director the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit watchdog group Campaign Legal Center.

The Campaign Legal Center has advocated for a ban on congressional stock trading.

"Even when lawmakers claim that they innocently failed to disclose stock trades, it can create the appearance of a conflict of interest," Payne said in an email to The Enquirer. "The disclosure requirements of the STOCK Act are not enough."

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