New evidence has emerged that a Democratic senator used her position to profit from insider trading. 

As PJ Media contributor Stephen Green noted in an article published this past Thursday, Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Stock price spiked after Smith made purchase

Early last month, Smith purchased a quarter million dollars worth of stock in Tactile Systems Technology (TCMD), a medical technology company.

While TCMD's stock price had been declining for some time, it began to go up the very day Smith made her purchase and ultimately rose by 43%.

Quiver Quantitative is a financial analyst, and in a post on the social media platform previously known as Twitter, he called Smith's action "the most suspicious congressional stock trade I've seen in months."

This is the most suspicious congressional stock trade I’ve seen in months.

Senator Tina Smith bought up to $250K of stock in Tactile Systems Technology, $TCMD.$TCMD is:

🏬 A tiny company, with a market cap of less than $250M.

💉A medical devices company. Senator Smith sits… pic.twitter.com/u3T1hZBLZa

— Quiver Quantitative (@QuiverQuant) November 20, 2023

Investments by members of Congress outperformed the market

What's more, Tina's situation doesn't appear to be unique, as Quiver Quantitative developed a trading bot to mimic the investment patterns of elected officials.

I built a trading bot that buys stocks that are being bought by politicians.

It is up 20% since it launched in May 2022.

The market has been flat during the same time period.

Here are some of the strategy’s most successful moves:

LOCKHEED MARTIN
On October 17th of 2022, the… pic.twitter.com/bpmI4yTeUN

— Quiver Quantitative (@QuiverQuant) November 1, 2023

From when the program was launched in May of 2022 until the beginning of last month, politicians saw their investments grow by 20% even as the overall market remained flat.

"It’s worth noting that despite the outperformance of the Congress Buys Strategy, it may still be held back by weak disclosure regulations," Quiver Quantitative added.

Rules on Congressional stock trading are weak

Green pointed out that while the 2012 STOCK Act signed by then-President Barack Obama gives members of Congress 45 days to disclose transactions, those who disclose late only face a $200 fine.

"So, yes, you could build a portfolio based on what people like Sen. Smith buy and sell, but you still wouldn't do as well as they do because you'll be up to 45 days behind their trades," he wrote.

"Or longer if they decide to pony up the $200 for late disclosures," the columnist went on to stress.