Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker and current Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), has come under scrutiny for a recent stock transaction involving Visa, FOX Business reports.
Financial disclosures reveal that Mr. Pelosi sold 2,000 shares of Visa on July 1, 2023, amounting to over $500,000, just months before the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the company. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, accuses Visa of maintaining an illegal monopoly over the US debit card market.
The sale was flagged by the “Nancy Pelosi Stock Tracker” account on X (formerly Twitter) the same day the DOJ took legal action against Visa. It is unclear whether the Pelosis profited from the transaction, and Rep. Pelosi’s office has not yet responded to media inquiries regarding the sale.
Paul Pelosi, who heads the San Francisco-based investment firm Financial Leasing Services, Inc., has faced public scrutiny in the past for the timing of his stock trades, often coinciding with significant government actions. Earlier this year, the couple made headlines when it was reported that they earned nearly $4 million from a bet Mr. Pelosi made on Nvidia stock, which was followed by a congressional vote on subsidies for the chip industry.
In response to previous controversies over her husband’s trades, Nancy Pelosi’s office has reiterated that she does not own any stocks and has no involvement in her husband’s financial decisions. Nonetheless, the timing of the Visa stock sale has reignited debate over whether lawmakers and their family members should be allowed to own and trade stocks.
Bipartisan efforts in Congress have pushed for legislation to ban lawmakers and their spouses from stock trading due to concerns over potential insider trading.
