Rep. Tom Suozzi was again late to file required disclosures of several investment moves

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Suozzi is under attack again for allegedly violating federal conflict-of-interest requirements by taking months to publicly disclose five financial transactions.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s GOP political arm in Washington is seizing on information in a new Suozzi public filing to allege he's violated the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) act, the law that requires lawmakers to disclose trades within 45 days.

They point to four purchases of U.S. Treasury bills and a single purchase of assets tied to a private credit fund that Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) reported last month even though they occurred last year. Collectively, the transactions totaled between $19,005 and $110,000. 

House members are required to publicly disclose trades of stocks, bonds and most securities of over $1,000 in value to the Committee on Ethics up to 45 days after they occur, in what are publicly viewable, periodic transaction reports. Failure to do so can result in fines. Reporting amounts are done in ranges, not exact values.

The goal of the required public disclosure is to make the public aware sooner rather than later of the transactions, amid perceptions that lawmakers have special access to information, explains Maya Kornberg, a congressional expert at the Brennan Center’s Elections and Government Program.

But on Friday, Suozzi's office disputed that the House reporting requirements pertained to the July 11, 2024 credit fund-related purchase — the largest one that is now being questioned, potentially valued at up to $50,000. 

The congressman's Chief of Staff, Matt Fried, noted that the purchase involved Northeast-PTP SPV IV LP, a private credit vehicle that is an Excepted Investment Fund.

Transactions involving those types of funds, unlike trades of stocks, bonds and most securities, he said, are excluded from the House rules on periodic transaction reports. That's "due to a variety of factors, including that the fund is independently managed and the congressman has no authority to exercise control over the fund itself," Fried said.

House rules do tell  members: "If you own a fund that does not qualify as an EIF," they are required to disclose those within 45 days.

But Maureen O’Toole, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman, disagreed, saying the House Ethics rules still did require disclosure of that Suozzi transaction within 45 days.

Asked to help clarify the matter, Tom Rust, a House Ethics Committee spokesman, declined to comment.

Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist for Public Citizen, and an expert on congressional ethics, said he also believes Suozzi was required to disclose the transaction.

"The ethics committee has not carved out exemptions for funds managed by an independent authority on behalf of the congressman," Holman said. "The congressman remains ultimately responsible for his own funds and must still disclose the trades."

Treasury bills

Suozzi's office did not dispute the other claims of inappropriate delays in reporting four other transactions —  purchases each of between $1,001-$15,000 in U.S. Treasury bills, on Sept. 19, Sept. 26, Oct. 24, and Nov. 7.

But with regard those four transactions, some outside congressional ethics experts merely shrug. 

Those experts do not dispute that disclosing treasury bill transactions is something that members are instructed to do under House rules. But they differ about whether the STOCK Act itself actually requires that to occur within 45 days -- and whether the reporting rule that has been embraced by the Ethics Committee in those matters, should even be in place.

A difference between T-bills and many stocks, they add, is that there appears to be little information that lawmakers can obtain through their work to gain an insider’s edge, or any direct influence they can wield on its performance.

Public Citizen's Holman said the STOCK Act itself merely refers to language in the Ethics in Government Act on what types of trades need to be reportable. And when he reads that language, Holman said, "I would not envision T-bills to be included because their value seems less subject to manipulation by Congress."

But Holman conceded the House Ethics Committee has authority to develop its own guidelines and rules. "Apparently, the Ethics committee disagrees and believes that the timing of investments in T-bills could be taken advantage of by lawmakers who have some inside knowledge ..."

An online tracker of politicians’ trading, Capitol Trades, reported last year that T-bills have zoomed in popularity in recent years among congressional investment options, now among the top assets traded.

Scrutiny on trading

This is not the first time Suozzi has missed disclosure deadlines, and he has drawn national headlines for doing so. 

Criticisms of Suozzi for filing late periodic transaction reports even prompted a House ethics investigation that ultimately concluded in 2022 that his violations of the STOCK Act then were not “knowing or willful.” More recently, he gained attention for a stock sale this year that allegedly took advantage of a disclosure loophole.

But this new scrutiny of Suozzi comes at a time of revived bipartisan efforts — that have been joined by Suozzi — to remake and strengthen the rules covering congressional stock trading. That includes public support by President Donald Trump of legislation to outright ban Congress from trading individual stocks.

"Suozzi’s hypocrisy is unmatched, and voters see right through his charade," said NRCC spokesman O'Toole.

"He’s pushing for legislation to ban Members of Congress from trading stocks, yet he continues to violate the STOCK Act ad nauseam," she said.

Holman offers that, whatever anyone's take on new questions raised about Suozzi's latest filings, "Unfortunately, many members of Congress routinely violate the reporting requirements of the STOCK Act, partly because the penalties are so small.

"A $200 fine means nothing to the millionaires who dominate Congress," he said. And as a result, he says "it is now necessary to take the STOCK Act one step further and prohibit lawmakers from trading on the stock market altogether."

Correction: A credit fund-related purchase reported on Rep. Tom Suozzi's most-recent federal disclosure of financial transactions is potentially valued at up to $50,000. An earlier version of this story misstated the amount.