US Representative charged with enforcing STOCK Act, violates it 150 times

The STOCK Act, established in 2012 during Barack Obama’s presidency, aims to curb insider trading among Congress members, their staff, and government officials. It mandates the disclosure of financial transactions and investments exceeding $1,000 within 45 days, ensuring transparency and ethical conduct in government trading activities.

In the case of Rutherford, the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) reported last year that he and another representative, Pat Fallon, likely violated the STOCK Act by not properly reporting their stock trades. The OCE highlighted Fallon’s 122 instances of delayed disclosure, involving transactions worth between $9 million and $21 million throughout 2021. Similarly, Rutherford’s conduct from July 2017 to August 2018 involved 136 late reportable disclosures, totaling between $631,000 and $3.2 million. Of these, 134 were considered worthy of penalties by the OCE.