After years of fighting it, Congress finally submitted to insider trading laws with the STOCK Act in 2012 but not before significantly watering it down. Now, they’re simply refusing to play ball.
A change in Medicare policy in April 2013 was almost assuredly leaked by House Ways and Means Committee staff director Brian Sutter:
Sutter spoke with a lobbyist for law firm Greenberg Traurig just minutes before the lobbyist emailed a brokerage firm with information from “very credible sources” about a change in Medicare policy. The firm then sent out an alert about the upcoming change to clients, including large insurance companies like Humana, and share prices of several immediately jumped.
At the time, Sutter told federal investigators that he did not recall speaking with the lobbyist, but a few days later, a House lawyer said that “time for reflection” may have helped stir Sutter’s memory.
The Committee responded to SEC subpoenas by saying its employees are “absolutely immune” from having to comply.
