Apparently there is a loophole in U.S. legislation that excludes Congress members from laws against insider-trading. According to an article published by the Business Insider many Congress members are guilty of abusing this loophole, including John Kerry, Dick Durbin, Jim Moran, and especially Spencer Bachus.
Some quotes:
According to a new book called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer, as relayed by Dave Weigel at Slate, Rep. Bachus made more than 40 trades in his personal account in the summer and fall of 2008, in the early months of the financial crisis.
The fact that Bachus personally traded on private information he received as a result of his job is bad enough. The fact that he was the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee at the time is simply outrageous.
Not that I’m at all surprised about this–but it’s good to have some hard evidence at hand.
