A spokesperson for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez admitted that she did not follow financial transparency rules for sitting members of Congress, despite her leadership to ban stock trading by members of Congress.
Members of Congress must publicly disclose their stock market transactions under the 2012 STOCK Act, which increased scrutiny on stock market transactions by Congress.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Lauren Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez’s communications director, said that Ocasio-Cortez is in no rush to comply with the STOCK Act rules, which grant members of Congress a 30-day grace period before fines begin to accumulate.
Before fines are levied, the committee provides a 30-day grace period. Hitt said that the congresswoman plans to file before the deadline expires. The fine for failure to disclose within a month of the due date is minuscule—only $200.
According to the New York Democrat, the public's lack of knowledge about financial transactions of elected officials decreases public trust in democracy.
This is not the first time that Ocasio-Cortez has failed to comply with STOCK Act rules in a timely manner. In Sept. 2021, the congresswoman exploited the 30-day grace period to its limit, submitting her disclosure on day 30 to narrowly avoid the fine.
25 August 2022
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