Insider-Trading

Senate Probes Commerce Secretary Lutnick's Firm for Tariff Insider Trading

| Importance: 8/10

Senate Democrats flagged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s firm Cantor Fitzgerald for creating financial products allowing clients to bet on Supreme Court tariff rulings, raising insider dealing concerns. Lutnick, a top tariff negotiator, is father of Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Brandon Lutnick. …

Howard Lutnick Brandon Lutnick Cantor Fitzgerald Ron Wyden Elizabeth Warren conflicts-of-interest systematic-corruption insider-trading
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The mystery of $MELANIA: First Lady's memecoin fuels $100M insider trading windfall

| Importance: 8/10

An extensive financial investigation revealed a sophisticated insider trading scheme involving the $MELANIA memecoin. 24 crypto wallets purchased $2.6 million in tokens just moments before the public launch, with one wallet tied to cryptocurrency entrepreneur Hayden Davis generating a $39 million …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Hayden Davis Melania Trump crypto government-contracts insider-trading financial-fraud
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Trump implements massive tariffs as concerns mount over market manipulation

| Importance: 8/10

Trump implements 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, 10% on China effective February 4, 2025, with plans for universal 10% tariffs. Senate Democrats later call for SEC investigation after Trump posts “GREAT TIME TO BUY” before announcing tariff pause in April, raising his net worth by $415 …

Donald Trump Trump Administration Senate Democrats Chuck Schumer Elizabeth Warren +2 more tariffs market-manipulation insider-trading second-administration regulatory-capture
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Trump Crypto Dinner Offers Presidential Access for Top $TRUMP Coin Buyers

| Importance: 9/10

Top 25 investors in $TRUMP memecoin attended private reception with President Trump, receiving $100,000 crypto-themed Trump watches. Justin Sun, the biggest $TRUMP coin holder, attended the dinner. The event sparked an ethics investigation by Senator Blumenthal, who alleged this represented an …

Donald Trump Justin Sun Fight Fight Fight LLC Richard Blumenthal crypto trump-coin pay-to-play presidential-access insider-trading +1 more
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SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler With $1 Billion Fortune and Insider Trading History Takes Office

| Importance: 7/10

Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, worth $1 billion from husband’s Intercontinental Exchange empire, takes office despite 2020 insider trading scandal. The Senate confirmed her 52-46 on February 19, 2025, despite ongoing concerns about financial conflicts of interest.

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Melania Trump launches $MELANIA memecoin day before inauguration

| Importance: 6/10

Melania Trump launched $MELANIA memecoin on January 19, 2025, hours before inauguration, causing her husband’s $TRUMP coin to crash 40%. The token reached $13 and a $2.15 billion market cap before dropping below $5. Financial Times later revealed 24 wallets bought $2.6 million worth two …

Melania Trump Donald Trump Anonymous traders (24 wallets) Trump Family crypto conflict-of-interest monetization memecoin insider-trading +2 more
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Melania Trump launches $MELANIA coin with suspicious trading netting insiders $99.6M

| Importance: 8/10

Melania Trump launched her $MELANIA cryptocurrency two days after Donald Trump’s coin, with highly suspicious trading patterns. Trading data reveals that just 24 wallets rapidly purchased massive amounts of Melania tokens immediately after launch, netting a combined $99.6 million windfall …

Melania Trump Cryptocurrency traders World Liberty Financial Sen. Chris Murphy crypto melania-trump insider-trading financial-corruption memecoin +3 more
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Paul Pelosi Visa Stock Sale Controversy

| Importance: 8/10

Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sold 2,000 shares of Visa worth between $500,000 and $1 million on July 1, 2024. This transaction became controversial when the Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against Visa on September 24, alleging monopolization of …

Paul Pelosi Nancy Pelosi Rick Scott Visa Inc. Department of Justice +1 more congressional-corruption insider-trading market-manipulation regulatory-capture doj-investigation +1 more
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Shvartsman Brothers and Bruce Garelick Charged in $22.9 Million DWAC Insider Trading Scheme

| Importance: 8/10

Federal prosecutors and the SEC charged Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman, and Bruce Garelick with securities fraud in a $22.9 million insider trading scheme centered on the DWAC-Trump Media merger. Bruce Garelick, a former DWAC board member and chief strategy officer at Rocket One Capital, …

Michael Shvartsman Gerald Shvartsman Bruce Garelick Rocket One Capital Southern District of New York +1 more insider-trading spac-fraud dwac rocket-one-capital financial-networks +1 more
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FBI Arrests Three in "Trust Social" Investigation for DWAC Insider Trading

| Importance: 9/10

FBI and HSI agents arrested Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman, and Bruce Garelick on June 29, 2023, for an insider trading scheme related to Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), which was set to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group. The defendants allegedly made over $22 million in …

Michael Shvartsman Gerald Shvartsman Bruce Garelick FBI HSI +3 more dwac insider-trading fbi-arrests trust-social-investigation truth-social +2 more
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SVB Executives Sold $84 Million in Stock Before Bank Collapse

| Importance: 8/10

Silicon Valley Bank executives, including CEO Greg Becker, sold $84 million in stock over two years, with $3.6 million sold just two weeks before the bank’s failure. The Justice Department and SEC launched investigations into these insider stock sales, which were executed under 10b5-1 trading …

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Fed Implements Strict Trading Restrictions After Major Ethics Scandal

| Importance: 7/10

The Federal Reserve announced comprehensive trading restrictions for senior officials following a major financial ethics scandal. In response to controversial trades by regional Fed bank presidents Robert Kaplan and Eric Rosengren during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Fed imposed strict new rules …

Jerome Powell Federal Reserve Board Elizabeth Warren Richard Clarida Robert Kaplan +1 more federal-reserve ethics-policy trading-restrictions jerome-powell regulatory-response +4 more
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Digital World Acquisition Corp Announces Trump Media SPAC Merger

| Importance: 8/10

Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition company, announced its agreement to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG), bringing Trump’s Truth Social platform public. The announcement triggered massive trading volume and price volatility, with DWAC …

Donald Trump Digital World Acquisition Corp Trump Media & Technology Group SEC Bruce Garelick +1 more spac-fraud truth-social dwac regulatory-capture trump-media +1 more
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Senators Burr and Loeffler Accused of Insider Trading After COVID-19 Briefings

| Importance: 9/10

Reports emerged that multiple U.S. Senators sold significant amounts of stock after attending classified briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic, but before the public understood the severity of the crisis and before markets crashed. On January 24, 2020, the Senate Committees on Health and Foreign …

Richard Burr Kelly Loeffler Tucker Carlson Congressional Corruption Insider Trading Republican Party COVID-19 STOCK Act +2 more
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Fed Vice Chair Clarida Trades Millions Before Rate Cuts

| Importance: 8/10

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida rotated between $1-5 million from Pimco bond funds into stock funds on February 27, 2020, just one day before Fed Chair Powell’s emergency statement about coronavirus risks. Clarida sold multiple ETFs during the market’s COVID-19 downturn and …

Richard Clarida Federal Reserve Board Jerome Powell Elizabeth Warren federal-reserve trading-scandal conflict-of-interest richard-clarida insider-trading +2 more
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2020 Congressional COVID Insider Trading Scandal Exposes Systemic Corruption

| Importance: 9/10

On February 13, 2020, several U.S. senators were investigated for potentially violating the STOCK Act by selling stock after receiving private briefings about the COVID-19 pandemic, but before the market crash on February 20, 2020. Senator Richard Burr and his wife sold between $628,000 and $1.72 …

Richard Burr Kelly Loeffler James Inhofe Dianne Feinstein Jeffrey Sprecher congressional-corruption insider-trading covid-19 market-manipulation senate-ethics
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Rep. Chris Collins Sentenced to 26 Months for Insider Trading From White House Lawn

| Importance: 8/10

Former U.S. Representative Chris Collins (R-NY) was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison, one year of supervised release, and a $200,000 fine by Judge Vernon S. Broderick for insider trading and making false statements to the FBI. Collins, who was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald …

Chris Collins Cameron Collins Donald Trump Vernon S. Broderick Congressional Corruption Insider Trading Republican Party New York Securities Fraud +2 more
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Rep. Chris Collins Indicted for Insider Trading Scheme at White House Picnic

| Importance: 8/10

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s first congressional supporter, was indicted for an insider trading scheme involving Innate Immunotherapeutics, an Australian biotechnology company where he served on the board. On June 22, 2017, while attending a Congressional Picnic at the White …

Chris Collins Cameron Collins Stephen Zarsky Innate Immunotherapeutics Geoffrey S. Berman +1 more congressional-corruption insider-trading prosecutions regulatory-capture white-collar-crime
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Rep. Chris Collins Indicted for Insider Trading

| Importance: 8/10

Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), President Trump’s first congressional supporter, was charged with insider trading related to his position on the board of Australian biotechnology company Innate Immunotherapeutics. On June 22, 2017, while attending a Congressional Picnic at the White House, …

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HHS Secretary Tom Price Resigns After $1 Million Private Jet Scandal

| Importance: 8/10

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned after revelations he spent over $1 million in taxpayer funds on private jets and military aircraft for travel that included personal business. Price took at least 26 private charter flights costing over $400,000, often to places where he had …

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Congress Quietly Guts STOCK Act Online Disclosure Requirements

| Importance: 8/10

President Obama signed legislation that gutted key provisions of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, just one year after the law was passed with great fanfare to combat congressional insider trading. The amendment eliminated the requirement for creating a searchable, sortable …

Barack Obama Congressional Corruption Insider Trading Regulatory Capture Ethics Reform Rollback Political Accountability +1 more
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STOCK Act Signed into Law

| Importance: 8/10

President Barack Obama signed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act into law, addressing long-standing concerns about insider trading by members of Congress. The bipartisan legislation, passed with overwhelming support (96-3 in Senate, 417-2 in House), prohibits members of Congress …

Barack Obama Congress Scott Brown Kirsten Gillibrand Joe Lieberman regulatory-capture financial-regulation congressional-ethics insider-trading government-accountability
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STOCK Act Gains Momentum After 60 Minutes Exposes Congressional Insider Trading

| Importance: 8/10

The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act gained explosive momentum after CBS’s 60 Minutes aired an investigation on November 13, 2011, revealing that several members of Congress allegedly used non-public information obtained through their official positions for personal …

Scott Brown Kirsten Gillibrand Brian Baird Congressional Corruption Insider Trading Political Accountability Financial Regulation Ethics Reform
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Epstein leaves Bear Stearns amid SEC insider trading investigation

| Importance: 9/10

Jeffrey Epstein abruptly leaves Bear Stearns amid an SEC investigation into insider trading related to the Edgar Bronfman/Seagram deal. This marks the beginning of Epstein’s transition from legitimate finance to his mysterious career as an unregistered investment advisor with undisclosed …

Jeffrey Epstein Bear Stearns SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) Edgar Bronfman Seagram Company epstein-intelligence financial-misconduct sec-investigation bear-stearns insider-trading +1 more
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