Report: Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman Made Hundreds of Stock Trades Despite Pledge to Form a ‘Blind Trust’

Democrat Rep. Daniel Goldman (NY) has made nearly 500 stock trades since entering office in January, despite previously pledging to form a “blind trust” to shield himself from financial conflicts of interest, Raw Story reported.

Goldman described himself as a “strong advocate for anti-corruption” and pledged to put his stock portfolio in a blind trust while campaigning to represent New York’s 10th congressional district, an area that encompasses the New York Stock Exchange. 

Goldman said during an August debate:

The fact of the matter is I have spent my entire career in public service, taking down gun traffickers, fighting against corrupt individuals, being a strong advocate for anti-corruption, and then obviously being in the trenches protecting and defending our democracy. So whatever you want to reference, I was in a blind trust with all my money when I was a prosecutor. I will put my money in a blind trust as a congressperson.

Despite his promise, Goldman, one of the wealthiest members of congress with an estimated net worth of up to $253 million, has yet to follow through on his promise to create a blind trust nearly four months after being sworn into office. 

Goldman has bought or sold shares of individual stocks more than 480 times since January, Raw Story reported. Some of Goldman’s stock purchases include banking firms, defense contractors, and tobacco companies.

For example, Goldman purchased up to $15,000 worth of shares in Credit Suisse Group, “the troubled Swiss bank that congressional investigators have recently accused of helping Americans commit tax fraud,” according to Raw Story.

He purchased up to $50,000 in Lockheed Martin Corporation and L3Harris Technologies. Goldman also sold up to $50,000 each in both Raytheon Technologies Corporation and Northrop Grumman Corporation. He also sold between $100,000 and $250,000 in Tesla stock before rebuying up to $50,000 of it.

Representatives from Goldman’s office defended the stock purchases by saying the congressman has “initiated the process of entering into a blind trust.”

Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter told Raw Story:

Congressman Goldman is not involved in trading stocks in his portfolio, which is managed entirely by an investment adviser. As he promised to do, immediately upon being sworn in, the congressman initiated the process of entering into a blind trust. This process is ongoing in coordination with the House Ethics Committee, and House Ethics has provided a timeline of up to one year for completion.

Although Goldman has made nearly 500 stock trades in his first few months in office,Kanter said he “supports legislation that would prohibit members of Congress from trading individual stocks.”

In 2011, Breitbart News senior contributor and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer rocked official Washington with his investigative revelations of insider trading by members of Congress. Left-leaning Slate hailed Schweizer’s blockbuster book on the topic, Throw Them All Out, “the book that started the STOCK Act stampede.” The bipartisan STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) banned insider trading by members of Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on April 4, 2012. The legislation received overwhelming support from both parties. One of the main figures featured in Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out, then-chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Spencer Bachus (R-AL), announced he would not seek reelection after the book’s reporting. Indeed, Bachus was the only elected official the late Andrew Breitbart ever called on to resign. CBS’s 60 Minutes did an investigative report on Schweizer’s revelations that won them the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for excellence in Washington-based journalism.

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.