"The Stock God of Capitol Hill" works wonders again: Sold Visa before antitrust accusations
Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, sold over $500,000 worth of Visa stock before Visa was charged by the US Department of Justice. This move has raised concerns as it coincided with the timing of the antitrust investigation. A spokesperson for Pelosi stated that Speaker Pelosi does not own any stocks and was unaware of this transaction. Visa's stock price has recently dropped by 7.41%. A former SEC enforcement lawyer pointed out that transactions by government officials often raise questions of conflicts of interest and the need to clarify the representatives and their backgrounds
"The Stock God of Capitol Hill" strikes again. According to the latest report from the New York Post, Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, sold over $500,000 worth of Visa stock less than 3 months before Visa was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice.
On Tuesday, after years of investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Visa, accusing the company of illegally monopolizing the U.S. debit card market. According to court documents, Visa is accused of leveraging its market dominance to put customers and merchants who choose to use competing payment processors at a disadvantage.
Antitrust regulators stated that "Visa uses 'threats of fines for non-compliance' to force fintech companies to cooperate with them". As of now, Visa's stock price has dropped by 7.41% in the past 5 days.
It is worth noting that as early as July 3rd, Christopher Josephs, who operates the "Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker" account on X, posted a screenshot of a U.S. congressional document. The screenshot shows that Paul Pelosi sold 2000 shares of Visa stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million. At the time of Paul Pelosi's stock sale, there were no public indications that Visa would face federal antitrust charges.
A spokesperson for Pelosi stated:
"Speaker Pelosi does not hold any stock, she was not aware in advance, nor did she participate in any transactions."
Former Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney Ron Geffner pointed out, "At various critical moments in history, our government officials have engaged in transactions, yet their conflicts of interest have been questioned. Before the public unfairly judges Pelosi, it is important to determine who executed this transaction on her behalf and whether it is part of a broader change in her investment portfolio."
It is reported that Pelosi's net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily from her and her husband's investments. Due to potential conflicts of interest, Pelosi has consistently opposed proposals from both parties to "ban members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks"