Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein reportedly admitted in a letter to the Secretary of the Senate that she failed to disclose a stock purchase by her husband that was worth up to $50,000.
“I was recently notified of a previously unreported transaction conducted by my spouse on August 3, 2020,” Feinstein said in the Jan. 6 letter, which was obtained by Business Insider. “The transaction involved the $15,001-$50,000 purchase of shares in a private company, College Reaction LLC. I recognize that this untimely filing carries a monetary penalty, which I will pay upon notification from the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.”
SCOOP: Sen. Dianne Feinstein fails to disclose husband’s stock purchase, says she’s willing to pay a fine https://t.co/REpoFJomGk via @businessinsider
— Kimberly Leonard (@leonardkl) January 27, 2021
Senators are required to publicly disclose stock transactions over $1,000 within 45 days under federal law, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Sen. Feinstein On Whether Cruz, Hawley Should Be Punished: ‘I Think The Senate Is A Place Of Freedom’)
College Reaction LLC is a private company focused on youth polling. It recently changed its name to The Generation Lab, Business Insider reported.
Feinstein is the tenth-wealthiest member of Congress, according to OpenSecrets.org. Senate financial disclosures show that the Senator and her husband Richard Blum, who is an investment banker, are worth tens of millions of dollars.
Feinstein realized her husband had purchased shares in the company “in the course of a review of her husband’s transactions,” said Tom Mentzer, the spokesman for the Senator.
“We can’t speak to why it had been previously overlooked but have been ensured that personnel involved in his transactions are aware of the reporting requirements,” Mentzer added. The Senate Ethics Committee has not said whether Feinstein will have to face a fine, Mentzer told the outlet.
The Generation Lab told Business insider that they were “happy to confirm Mr. Blum is an investor.”
Blum also faced scrutiny in 2018 when he reportedly purchased between $100,000 and $250,000 in Facebook stock. The stocks, which were purchased in January, were not publicly disclosed until May – one month after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the outlet Sludge revealed. At the time, Feinstein was the Democratic ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.
The couple also sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in stock from Allogene Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, shortly before the stock market crashed in March 2020, Business Insider reported. Feinstein denied having any personal knowledge of the trade.