Michigan’s McClain tells congressional clerk that she will avoid violating STOCK Act in the future

Michigan U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain violated a law aimed at preventing conflicts of interest for the second time this year by being late to report financial stock trades made by her husband.

A review of financial disclosures by the publication NOTUS, a nonprofit news organization based in Washington, D.C., showed that McClain, a Republican from Bruce Township who represents Michigan’s 9th Congressional District, was late to publicly disclose between $360,000 and $900,000 in trades made by her husband.

One of the trades in question was placed after the stock price rose for Palantir Technologies, a government contractor co-founded by controversial Silicon Valley figure Peter Theil, who has deep ties to Vice President JD Vance, former Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk and was instrumental in helping reelect President Donald Trump.

In an Oct. 20 letter sent to the U.S. House of Representatives’ clerk, McClain, who serves as the Republican House conference chair, said there were several trades made from her husband’s tax-deferred account and that she would work in the future to provide information more accurately and quickly.

“Moreover, I am taking aggressive measures to ensure full compliance in the future,” McClain wrote to Kevin McCumber, the U.S. House clerk.

Violating the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act can result in $200 fines that escalate if the law is repeatedly violated. It is unclear if McClain paid a fine in the matter.

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A message from Michigan Advance seeking comment from McClain’s press secretary on whether she had to pay punitive fines was not returned at the time of publication.

The Palantir trade was up to $450,000 worth of sales of stock in June. NOTUS reported that several other trades reported late after the 45-day deadline established in law include Tesla Inc and several other tech companies.

McClain was late in reporting more than 500 additional trades made by her husband earlier this year, which NOTUS estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

The STOCK Act not only covers trades made by members of Congress, but also their family members and children.

McClain’s position in Congress makes the late reporting of the trades significant, as she is a member of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, as well as its Capital Markets subcommittee. The committee has legislative regulatory authority over financial institutions. 

In August, it was reported that U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit) may have also violated that act through the purchase of stock in a well-known proxy for cryptocurrency holdings.