An investigation by The Wall Street Journal found that thousands of U.S. government executive branch officials reported holding or trading stocks that rose or fell as a result of their department’s decisions.
More than 2,600 officials from the Commerce Department to the Treasury Department disclosed their stock investments as companies lobbied their departments for favorable policies, spanning Republican or Democratic presidencies. The Wall Street Journal surveyed 50 federal agencies, more than one-fifth of the senior federal employees surveyed.
A senior Environmental Protection Agency official reported buying oil and gas stocks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration improperly allowed an official to own dozens of stocks of food and drug companies on the agency’s banned list. Before a defense company won new business from the Pentagon, a Defense Department official bought the company’s stock five times.
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