Tom Malinowski Files Late Disclosure Forms, Another Possible Ethics Violation

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ), a vulnerable Democrat with ethics complaints, filed his financial disclosure forms late, with some forms more than two years after the required date, according to a report.

Business Insider reported that in addition to multiple ethics complaints the congressman is facing after failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock transactions, in July, Malinowski appeared to change previous disclosure forms by retroactively filing disclosures for some of the trades he made over two years ago in 2019. He also amended several of the disclosure forms he filed earlier in the year.

Members of Congress have up to 45 days to disclose any of the trades they make. However, now it is being reported that Malinowski failed to disclose trades from over two years ago. Congressional members sometimes amend their disclosure forms, but it tends to raise flags when they do.

Breitbart News has continuously reported on Malinowski’s lack of filing stock transactions. The federal STOCK Act requires lawmakers in the House and Senate, to publicly reveal their personal stock sales and purchases within 30 to 45 days of the transaction.

There were previously two complaints filed against the congressman by two ethics watchdogs with the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate allegations:

The Campaign Legal Center and Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) urged the congressional ethics agency to investigate the New Jersey Democrat over the congressman’s failure to disclose a significant number of stocks.

Malinowski’s office said last week that the failure to disclose the over-half million dollars in stocks was an “oversight” that the congressman is now fixing.

In March, FACT’s executive director Kendra Arnold said his conduct “is especially damaging to citizens’ confidence in elected officials.” She added, “It appears Malinowski was secretly trading stocks related to a national crisis, which prevented the public from evaluating whether his transactions were based upon information he obtained from his official position.”

In July, FACT filed another letter with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), which laid out more information. Arnold wrote, Malinowski “failed to disclose about 90 stock trades worth between $671,000 and $2.67 million in 2020 as required by law.” She added that no one should be “profiting off of selling ventilators, vaccines, drugs, treatments, PPE (personal protective equipment), anywhere in the world.”

Malinowski’s chief of staff announced last month that the congressman would be awaiting approval to use a blind trust. Breitbart News added:

Malinowski has reportedly paused his stock trades since May 26, the congressman is currently awaiting approval from the ethics committee to put his remaining assets into a blind trust, according to the New Jersey Globe. Colston Reid, Malinowski’s chief of staff, said, “The account will remain frozen while we are awaiting a vote by the Ethics Committee.”

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However, the blind trust must be approved by a bipartisan Ethics Committee, which has not yet happened. If the committee fails to approve the blind trust, it will happen automatically.

“The latest trades were made in April, and Malinowski was notified of them at the end of that month. They weren’t disclosed until June 12,” the report added.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Spokeswoman Samantha Bullock said in an emailed statement Monday, “Violating federal law three times is no ‘technical issue,’ and Tom Malinowski’s attempt to dismiss it as such is proof that he knows his stock trading problem will cost him his seat in 2022.”