Dem senator is facing criticism over stock transactions

By 
 May 13, 2023

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is facing criticism about the stock transactions that she has made over the course of her three decades in Congress. 

The criticism follows new reporting from Unusual Whales, a group that specializes in stock and market news. The report was put into a Twitter thread.

Here's the first tweet of the thread:

Some examples

In subsequent Twitter messages, Ununusual Whales details some of the "unusual trades" that Feinstein has made.

Unusual Whales, for example, writes:

Feinstein reportedly attended COVID hearings by the CDC in early Jan 2020. Afterwards, her husband sold between $1.5 & $6 million in stock Allogene Therapeutics amongst others. The stock market collapsed shortly afterwards. Feinstein was cleared by the DOJ.

That's a more recent example. But, this sort of thing, according to Unusual Whales, has been going on for many years.

Here is an example from 2009:

On Dec 4, 2009, Feinstein & her husband bought $1 million in Amyris Biotechnologies. It was their only transaction the entire year. Weeks after, the company was awarded a $24 million governmental grant. Later, Feinstein introduced her own bill that benefited Amyris Biotech.

These are only two of the five examples provided by Unusual Whales of Feinstein's "unusual trades." According to the group, there are "many" more examples than five.

"Cheating in broad daylight"

A couple of National Football League (NFL) players have commented on Unusual Whale's reporting, including David Bakhtiari of the Green Bay Packers.

Bakhtiari wrote on Twitter, "How are we as a nation just 'cool' with actions like this? It’s cheating in broad daylight."

Former Packer and current New York Jets QB Aaron Rogers replied, "Finally, Dave. #thisgifisyou#." The GIF Rogers included is of actor Ryan Reynolds waking up in bed in the movie "Free Guy." 

Outlets are reporting that Feinstein did disclose the trades on her financial disclosures. The New York Post reports that Feinstein was even questioned by the FBI about the above incident in 2020, but Feinstein was cleared. A Feinstein spokesperson, at the time, said:

Senator Feinstein was asked some basic questions by law enforcement about her husband’s stock transactions, as I think all offices in the initial story were. She was happy to voluntarily answer those questions to set the record straight and provided additional documents to show she had no involvement in her husband’s transactions. There have been no follow-up actions on this issue.

As noted, Feinstein's wealth stands at over $200 million. A U.S. senator's yearly salary is $174,000.

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