Paul Pelosi Sold Computer Chip Stock In Time To Avoid Heavy Losses

Shares in Nvidia fell 7.7% on the news and a total of 16% since Pelosi sold shares on July 26. Pelosi — who was arrested after alleged drunk driving earlier this year — formerly exercised 200 call options on their expiration date of June 17 at a strike price of $100, according to more federal filings.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Speaker Pelosi, said in a statement to Fox News that the lawmaker had no knowledge of her husband’s transactions.

“As always, he does not discuss these matters with the speaker until trades have been made and required disclosures must be prepared and filed,” Hammill told the outlet. “Mr. Pelosi decided to sell the shares at a loss rather than allow the misinformation in the press regarding this trade to continue.”

Pelosi, however, has frequently placed large bets at the height of raging policy debates in Congress. Last year, he purchased over $6 million in options contracts related to technology stocks while lawmakers worked on antitrust legislation.

Speaker Pelosi has rejected the notion that members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks. “Because this is a free market … we are a free market economy,” Pelosi told a reporter last year, “they should be able to participate in that.”

President Joe Biden signed the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act into law on August 9 — a move he characterized as an effort to combat supply-driven inflationary pressures. Multiple key Asian manufacturing economies enforced harsh lockdown measures two years ago in response to the spread of COVID, creating bottlenecks in the global semiconductor supply chain that persist to the present day.

A report from The New York Times’ DealBook revealed that asset purchases from members of Congress and their immediate families amounted to $267 million in 2021, while sales amounted to $364 million. Top officials working at the Federal Reserve have also faced criticism for purchasing individual stocks amid their work to chart the nation’s monetary policy.