U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, La., 6th Dist., strongly denies any involvement in alleged insider training. The Democratic Representative from the 6th Congressional District was responding to an October 1 report from the news website NOTUS. That report spelled out Fields’ purchase of between $80,000-$200,000 of stock in the tech company Oracle.
As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, those purchases came just days before President Trump signed an executive order September 25, giving the technology giant a leading role in acquiring TikTok's U.S. operations. Fields sits on the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets. It’s a committee that writes laws that govern financial markets and the securities industry, further raising suspicions.
Fields says members of Congress trade stocks all the time, and he’s no different. In fact, he’s been doing so for a long time. “I’ve been trading stocks for a while, and it didn’t start when I was in Congress. And I don’t intend to stop while I’m in Congress.”
Fields notes that there are very strict rules for members of Congress to report their stock trades – they have to do so within 45 days. Fields says he takes it one step further – he reports all his trades within 30 days.
Back in 2012, Congress did pass the STOCK Act, which stands for “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge.”
Yet the measure lacks any real teeth, requiring only that a member of Congress cannot use insider information to make money on stock trades, and must report any trades which surpass $1,000 within 45 days. But only a range of the value is required, not the exact amount. The punishment is a $200 fine for a first offense.
There are several unanswered questions, including exactly how much, if any knowledge did Fields have of the pending Tik Tok Deal, and whether he made the stock trades himself, or a financial advisor did so on his behalf.
