Rep. David Trone (D-MD), who lost the Democratic Maryland Senate primary Tuesday by a wide margin, submitted a financial disclosure Wednesday listing buys and sells of up to roughly $97 million last year in U.S. Treasury bills.
The sprawling trades listed on the financial disclosure were sub-holdings of Trone’s joint JPMorgan investment account. The filing, which was published by the House, also listed up to $100,000 in shares of PepsiCo that Trone’s spouse sold in November 2023 through a separate trust. Treasury bills, which are issued by the U.S. government, are short-term debt obligations that help the government fund public projects such as the construction of highways.
Trone doesn’t appear to have skirted federal rules over disclosing the trades of the Treasury bills after many months, since this type of security is not covered under the STOCK Act, said Craig Holman, an ethics expert at the left-wing Public Citizen think tank.
However, the disclosure of the Pepsi trades was unlawful under the act, which holds that lawmakers must report stock trades within 45 days, Holman said. The law aims to thwart conflicts of interest arising from members gaining nonpublic information about companies they oversee. It is routinely violated by both Democrats and Republicans.
“The focus of the STOCK Act is to prevent favoritism with private companies among members of Congress,” Holman said. Violators of the act pay a $200 late filing fee to the government.
“Congressman Trone is and always has been in good standing with the House Ethics Committee,” a Trone spokesperson said, directing the Washington Examiner to an attorney for the lawmaker.
The financial disclosures submitted by Trone, like others signed by lawmakers, listed the trades in ranges, such as between $1 million and $5 million. The filing comes on the heels of Trone suffering a defeat by double digits Tuesday in the Senate primary to Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.
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Trone, a wealthy businessman, spent $62 million of his own wealth in the primary race. Alsobrooks will face off in the general election against former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican.
The Washington Examiner reached out for comment to an attorney for Trone.