A recent filing by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shows that her financier husband Paul Pelosi offloaded nearly $5 million worth of graphics card giant Nvidia shares just days before House lawmakers are set to consider legislation that would provide billions in government subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production.
In a periodic transaction report signed on Tuesday, Pelosi disclosed (pdf) that her husband sold 25,000 shares of Nvidia at an average price of $165.05 with a total loss of $341,365.
In total, the shares are worth between $1 million and $5 million.
According to an earlier filing this month (pdf), Paul Pelosi exercised 200 call options, or 20,000 shares, of Nvidia at a strike price of $100 and expiration of June 17, 2022, worth between $1 million and $5 million.
At the same time, Paul Pelosi also sold portions of his Apple and Visa holdings, according to the speaker’s disclosure.
Paul Pelosi owns and operates a San Francisco-based real estate and consulting firm.
The move to purchase Nvidia stock in June raised questions about whether the financier had insider knowledge about the legislation, while Pelosi has drawn scrutiny in recent months over her husband’s moves in the stock market.
However, Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill told media outlets at the time that the speaker “has no prior knowledge or subsequent involvement in any transactions,” while adding that she also “does not own any stocks.”
“To be clear, insider trading is already a serious federal criminal and civil violation and the Speaker strongly supports robust enforcement of the relevant statutes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Hammill also said.
Senate Approves CHIPS
A Business Insider analysis from 2021 found that Pelosi is the 14th wealthiest member of Congress, with an estimated net worth of at least $46 million.
The latest regulatory filing came just one day before the Senate approved the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America) Act of 2022, a measure designed to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry and encourage companies to build semiconductor plants in the United States.
The legislation, which passed in a 64–33 vote on July 27, provides $280 billion in funding to aid domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research. Roughly $52 billion of that is set to go to microchip manufacturers.
The legislation would also allocate more than $170 billion provided over five years to bolster U.S. scientific research to compete with China.
The bill now heads to the House for debate.
When asked about Paul Pelosi’s offloading of shares around the same time the Senate prepared to vote on the latest measure, Hammill said in a statement to The Hill, “Mr. Pelosi bought options to buy stock in this company more than a year ago and exercised them on June 17, 2022.”
“As always, he does not discuss these matters with the Speaker until trades have been made and required disclosures must be prepared and filed. Mr. Pelosi decided to sell the shares at a loss rather than allow the misinformation in the press regarding this trade to continue,” he added.
The Epoch Times has contacted Pelosi’s office for comment.
From The Epoch Times