Topline
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) revealed in regulatory filings Tuesday her husband Paul Pelosi sold millions worth of stock in chipmaker Nvidia at a loss a day before the Senate passed a multibillion-dollar bill aimed in part at boosting U.S. chip manufacturing that sent Nvidia shares surging, a decision Pelosi’s office says was to avoid further “misinformation” about the couple’s investments.
Paul Pelosi and Nancy Pelosi attend the TIME 100 Gala in 2019.
Key Facts
Paul Pelosi sold 25,000 shares of Nvidia at $165.05 on Tuesday, worth $4.1 million, according to the filing.
Pelosi lost $341,365 in the transaction, according to the filing.
Pelosi missed out on a sizable payday, as Nvidia shares have since jumped 7.8% to $177.90.
The sale comes a month after a June 17 filing revealed Pelosi exercised call options to buy 20,000 Nvidia shares, purchasing the options as well as 5,000 shares outright last summer.
Pelosi’s Nvidia trades received widespread criticism, despite Pelosi buying the options a year earlier and exercising them on the date of their expiration.
Crucial Quote
Drew Hammill, Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in a statement to Forbes: “Mr. Pelosi decided to sell the shares at a loss rather than allow the misinformation in the press regarding this trade to continue.”
Key Background
Paul Pelosi’s investments have generated significant public interest, notably when he made a $5.3 million windfall after exercising Alphabet options last June shortly before a House vote on antitrust actions against Silicon Valley titans (considering Pelosi’s options would have expired on the day they exercised them, it’s highly unlikely anything against the rules occurred). Pelosi also bought more than $2 million in Tesla stock in March. Members of Congress are required to publicly disclose all trades made by themselves or their immediate family within 45 days. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) introduced a bill in January barring members of Congress and their family members from owning individual stocks, an idea to which Nancy Pelosi has signaled openness. When asked by a reporter last week if her husband ever traded on information provided by her, Pelosi replied: “Absolutely not.”
Chief Critic
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) called last week for a hearing to crack down on alleged insider trading from lawmakers and their families, citing the Pelosi and Nvidia deal. “Speaker Pelosi and her husband remain undeterred from cashing in,” Hawley wrote in a letter to the head of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).
Tangent
The Pelosis’ trading activity is viral on social media: a Twitter account titled “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” tracking his holdings has 88,000 followers, while TikTok videos on the investments regularly generate millions of views.
Further Reading
Senate Passes Bill To Boost U.S. Microchip Production—Here’s What’s In It (Forbes)
Pelosi Exercises Tesla Stock Options To Buy $2 Million In Shares (Forbes)
Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Husband’s $5 Million Alphabet Options Windfall (Forbes)
