Texas Republican Rep. Pat Fallon, who hailed Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, potentially made a significant profit from his own investment in the social media company, according to an insider analysis of congressional financial documents.
Insider calculated that Fallon made a profit of between $34,000 and $35,000 from selling his shares in Twitter as part of the company going private. Fallon, who was first elected in 2020, is both a frequent Tweeter he posts from his official Congressional account on an almost daily basis in addition to being a Twitter investor.
While Fallon traded Twitter stock in 2021 and beyond, his annual financial disclosure notes ended the year without any Twitter holdings. But he bought $15,001 and $50,000 worth of Twitter stock on January 19, 2022, and $50,001 and $100,000 five days later. Federal lawmakers are only required to report the value of their stock trades in a broad range.
Records show that Fallon held onto his shares until Musk bought the company in October and took it private. Stock holders receive a payment of $54.20 per share if they hold their shares through the end of the year.
Fallon did not disclose the exact price of his stock purchase nor the number of shares he holds. But based on the share price of Twitter stock the day Fallon bought his shares, the price of his Twitter stock increased significantly from the day he sold them,
It is clear that the value of the Congressman’s investment was inflated by tens of thousands of dollars. Insider calculated that Fallon received more than $6,500 from his January 19 investment and at least $27,000 from his January 24 investment. Fallon’s office did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Fallon has been a vocal fan of Musk’s Twitter acquisition — on Saturday, for example, he told Newsmax that Musk’s recent purchase of Twitter was the best $44 billion I’ve spent in recent history.
Insider first published its Conflicted Congress series in December 2021, revealing multiple financial conflicts of interest and violations of federal disclosure laws, including the Fallen Congress itself actively implicating lawmakers and their spouses in the trading of personal stocks . Consider banning.
But the Democratic leadership has put off a vote on a bill until after the 2022 midterms, and time is running out for Congress to pass legislation. Before the election, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he was open to the idea of a bill prohibiting members of Congress from trading individual stocks.
McCarthy is silent on such a bill now that it is clear the GOP has enough seats to control the House next term. In his speech announcing his run for the presidency, former President Donald Trump supported the idea of banning members of Congress from trading stocks. We want members of Congress to get rich by trading stocks based on insider information, Trump said.