Nancy Pelosi’s latest disclosures on Inauguration Day show her husband made substantial investments in leading tech firms, renewing debate over lawmakers’ family stock dealings.
Key Facts:
- Former House Speaker Pelosi reported trades by her husband, Paul, in December and early January.
- Purchases included call options for Alphabet, Amazon, and Nvidia, among others.
- Sales included thousands of shares in Nvidia and Apple, followed by additional call-option buys.
- A spokesperson says Pelosi herself does not own stocks or influence her husband’s trades.
- These transactions come amid growing calls to ban lawmakers’ families from trading stocks.
The Rest of The Story:
Paul Pelosi’s trades involved call options—contracts giving him the right to purchase shares at a set price. The values ranged in size from tens of thousands to several million dollars.
Among the transactions were significant positions in tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia, which are often under scrutiny in Washington.
Nancy Pelosi’s office maintains she has no involvement in these deals.
Despite that, her husband’s trading activity has drawn attention because it dovetails with broader concerns that members of Congress and their families could benefit from information not readily available to the public.
Multiple bipartisan proposals have sought to curb such trading, but none have become law.
In 2021, Nancy Pelosi was asked if Congress should be banned from trading stocks.
Her Response: "No… This is a free market."
While serving 37 years in Congress with an annual salary of $223,500, she increased her net worth to an estimated $263,000,000.
— Thrilla the Gorilla (@ThrillaRilla369) January 21, 2025
Additional details reveal that Paul Pelosi sold 10,000 shares of Nvidia and 31,600 shares of Apple on December 31. He bought 50 more Nvidia call options on January 14, adding to his prior holdings.
On December 20, he exercised 500 Nvidia call options with a $12 strike price, which were due to expire that day, in a trade valued at $500,000 to $1 million.
Last fall, he sold over $500,000 in Visa stock before an antitrust suit was filed against the credit card giant.
An analysis estimated that he made around $4 million in a six-month span from Nvidia call options he purchased in November 2023.
Commentary:
It may be illegal for members of Congress and their families to use insider knowledge for profit, yet it appears to keep happening.
Watching elected officials or their relatives grow wealthy through trades like these sends the wrong message to the public.
It is time to put a stop to this practice, yet the chance of Congress actually enforcing strict rules on itself seems slim.
If lawmakers truly wanted to prevent such conflicts, they would have done it by now.
The Bottom Line:
These new disclosures highlight ongoing concerns about lawmakers’ stock activities.
Without stricter policies, skepticism over Congress and personal profits is likely to persist.